El Malpais National Monument (Grants: snakes, parks, area)

[WLUTZ]

Has anyone hiked/backpacked here? Would like to get any feedback if you have. Thanks.

[Hunter Wold]

El Malpais National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)
El Malpais National Monument, Grants, New Mexico -
volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/Parks/el_malpais/el_malpais.html

Haven't hiked all of it. Good info on line, links above.
Hot in Aug. Careful of Rattlers around there, April on to Oct...seen a few and there is thick brush etc..

Lots of hikers in summer. A few now on Week-ends. I would think about March would be nice if/when flowers start to bloom..

Happy trails,
HW

[mtncat]

Use to do alot of hiking before it was a national monument. Really neat area to look around.
Like already posted, watch for the snakes.
Also watch for the thin layers of lava that cover BIG holes. You don't see them until you break through and fall. There is a name for them and I can't recall it.
Also, if you hike way out you need to use a GPS as it's easy to get turned around.

[WLUTZ]

Thanks fellas

[Sarahsez]

That is a really beautiful area. I would love to go back again. We didn't hike or backpack, but did spend a couple of days around there and drove around quite a bit. The warnings we were given were regarding driving around on some of the roads during/after a rain. The weathered rock is extremely slippery.