El Malpais Lava Tubes and La Ventana Arch

The El Malpais lava flows are geologically young, some of the most recent volcanic activity in the region, and the lava tubes are a direct product of how the flows moved. As a river of molten lava ran across the land, its surface cooled and hardened into a crust while the hot lava beneath kept flowing. When the eruption waned, the molten rock drained out from under the crust, leaving a long hollow tunnel.

Many of these tubes are now collapsed in places, opening skylights and cave entrances into the dark passages below. In some tubes, cold air pools and never fully drains, so seeping water freezes into floors and formations of ice that persist through the summer. These ice caves are fragile and slow to form, which is why access is managed carefully to protect them.

La Ventana Arch spans a gap in the pale sandstone cliffs that line the eastern edge of the badlands. It formed as water, frost, and wind slowly wore away weaker rock beneath a more resistant layer, hollowing out an opening and then widening it into a great arc of stone. It is one of the largest and most accessible natural arches in New Mexico, reached by a short walk up a small canyon.

The sandstone here was laid down long before the lava, in an era of ancient deserts and shallow seas, and the cliffs glow warm gold and buff in the sun. The meeting of this old sedimentary rock with the young black lava just to the west makes the drive along NM-117 a lesson in deep time, with hundreds of millions of years on display side by side.

The El Malpais country has been part of the homeland of the Ancestral Puebloan people and their descendants for a very long time, and it remains deeply significant to the modern Pueblos of Acoma, Laguna, and Zuni, along with the Navajo Nation. Ancient trails cross the lava, and the surrounding mesas and valleys hold a long record of Native life. The lava and its landmarks figure in the living traditions of these communities.

Spanish and later travelers found the badlands a formidable barrier, which is how they earned the name malpais. In more recent times the region was protected as El Malpais National Monument and the adjacent conservation area, safeguarding both the natural formations and the cultural heritage woven through them. Visitors are asked to treat the whole landscape, natural and cultural, with respect.

Life clings to this harsh landscape in remarkable ways. Ancient, twisted junipers and ponderosa pines root in cracks in the lava, some of them centuries old, and bats roost in the caves and tubes. Wildlife includes mule deer, coyotes, and a range of desert birds and reptiles, all adapted to a land with little soil and less water.

Spring and fall bring the most pleasant weather for hiking and caving, with mild days and cool nights. Summer is hot on the black lava, which soaks up the sun, though the caves stay cold and the monsoon storms can green the land. Winter is cold and can bring snow, which lies startlingly white across the black rock. The ice caves stay cold in every season, a permanent pocket of winter underground.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.