Driving West on US Hwy 64 I made a stop at a picnic area East of Des Moines, New Mexico to view Capulin Volcano. (Note: A week before I called the New Mexico Department of Transportation; and they told me that the New Mexico rest areas and picnic areas are free legal camps, but visitors can not put up tents or other structures.)
I drove on to the Town of Capulin, and then drove North on New Mexico Hwy 325 to Capulin Volcano National Monument. At the visitors center they charged a $20 entry fee. Instead I showed them my senior park pass and a photo ID, and I was good to go for free. The narrow road spiraled up the volcano to the parking lot at the low spot on the crater rim. From the parking lot there were two walking trails. One trail went down to the bottom of the crater. I decided to take the second, Crater Rim Walk that was over a mile long walk with an elevation rise of about 300 feet to the spot on the second hill at 8182 feet above sea level.
this old disabled man. I got a quart of cold drinking water from my ice chest; then slowly walked uo the the first hill. I got a good view of the Town of Capulin. My disability was not a factor, but i had a problem getting enough oxygen walking at 8000 feet. (The many young people walking the rim did not have that problem.) At the top of the first hill I took a breathing brake sitting on a park bench and drank some cold water.
Since I had half of my drinking water remaining I started my slow walk up the second and higher hill. About half way up the second hill I needed more air to continue, so I sat on a big chunk of basalt to catch my wind. It was gouing to take me a good while to get my wind back and finish my uphill walk. Thats when some young visitors helped me stand and they pulled me the rest of the way up the second hill. After I got to breathing normally, I sent the nice visitors on their way.
lot; but it was an easy downhill. The views from the Crater Rim Walk were wonderful. I walked back to the parking lot and got me a freash bottle of cold drinking water. Then I drove down the volcano, then drove West to Raton Pass.
At the park visitor center they told me about the annual mating of the lady bug beatles on top of the volcano. I saw none of the beatles there; so I recon that the event was over. I searched my old (1980s) 135 mm SLR prints, and included two prints from the trail from long ago.
The Volcanic Field (including Capulin) streaches across Northern New Mexico. Capulin Volcano was active with a series of eruptions about 60,000 years ago. Now Capulin Volcano is considered to be extinct, but there are active areas elseware in the Volcanic Field.
