Sandstone Cliffs of El Malpais National Monument New Mexico

May 5, 2007

We are staying in the Blue Spruce RV Park $13.50 for 50-amps, water & Cable TV with central dump. Blue Spruce is located on the south west corner of the I-40 exit 81 intersection.

In travellog 28aa we drove south on NM-53 to view the Ice Cave, Bandera Crater and the western side of El Malpais National Monument. As you will recall it was all about volcano activity and what they left behind. Today we are traveling south on NM-117 along the eastern edge of El Malpais National Monument. The view from here consists of rugged sandstone cliffs that border the "Badlands" of El Malpais. Along this route we are riding along the edge of a rift zone with the sandstone cliffs on our east side and a huge lava flow on the valley floor.

Sandstone Cliff on eastern side of El Malpais in New Mexico

This is another view from the top of the sandstone cliff that encompasses the El Malpais valley. In this picture we are on the east side of El Malpais looking north toward Mt. Taylor. Mt. Taylor is obscured by snow clouds. The sandstone on top of the mesa is fairly clean of loose earth. As you can see this rock is fairly barren.

Sandstone in the above picture is 138 million years old while Mt. Taylor the Volcano in the background is only 3.5 million years old------ the lava in El Malpais was deposited around 10,000 years ago

Mt. Taylor is relatively young in geologic terms compared to the sandstone we are standing on. Mt. Taylor the old volcano in the background of this picture (actually hidden by snow clouds) is around 3.5 million years old while the sandstone we are standing on dates to 138 million years when this region was similar to the present day Sahara Desert consisting of miles upon miles of shifting sand dunes. By contrast the lava covering the valley of El Malpais is only 10,000 years old.

Layers of sediment in sandstone cliffs bordering eastern side of El Malpais

This sandstone shows a lot of sediment levels. It was probably formed when the area had more water. This rock may be more of a mud stone than classic sandstone that was formed when Sahara Desert like conditions existed here.

Talus slope beneath sandstone cliff on eastern side of El Malpais National Monument in New Mexico

This is an interesting point on a sandstone cliff. It happens to be the cliff we were on when we took we took the above pictures from the top of a sandstone cliff. Notice the talus slopes, made up of fallen boulders and rocks, that form that the sloping edge at the bottom of this cliff.

Sandstone cliff eastern side of El Malpais National Monument New Mexico

Points like this have names. What would you name this one?

Sandstone cliff eastern side of El Malpais National Monument New Mexico

As you can see in this picture NM-117 travels south along the edge of these sandstone cliffs. This is purported to be a beautiful drive in the late afternoon with the dropping sun shining directly on these cliffs turning them into bright reds and yellows. We are traveling in the middle of the day and it is snowing outside. You can not see the snow flakes but they are there. This section of cliff does not show talus slopes of rubble at the bottom of the cliff. I wonder why some have talus slopes and others do not. Feel free to enlighten me if you know the answer.

Sandstone cliff eastern side of El Malpais National Monument New Mexico

NM-117 is designated as a New Mexico scenic drive and this is an example why.

This would surely make a beautiful picture with late afternoon sun shining directly on the cliff face.

Again there is no pile of talus along the bottom of this section of cliff face.

Sandstone cliff eastern side of El Malpais National Monument New Mexico

Sandstone cliffs weather in different interesting patterns. Note how this cliff doesn't have many broken pieces at the base. Pay attention, some have huge sloping piles of fallen material. Can you spot the "desert varnish" on this sandstone cliff?

Massive face of sandstone on eastern side of El Malpais National Monument

Isn't this a unique piece of eroded sandstone?

La Ventana Arch on east side of El Malpais National Monument New Mexico

Next to that unusual dome is the "La Ventana Arch" one of the attractions on the east side of El Malpais. Look closely to see the arch. The trail led up to the arch but it was very cold and is was snowing. The picture doesn't show the snow but it was coming down at a pretty good rate. Bottom line it was miserable to be outside and we retreated back to the Saturn for shelter.

Sandstone monolith visible in distance

The camera isn't showing snow flurries in the air but it did show as it hit the window in this picture. Joyce took this picture from inside our Saturn with the window rolled up. We are not snow experts by any means but this snow was different from snow that we have experienced before. This snow is almost dry. It is evaporating shortly after hitting the automobile. No snow is sticking on the ground.