The Badlands

A week and a half ago we went to El Malpais national monument here in New Mexico. It was named that by the Spaniards because of the vast volcanic field. Supposedly the lava from a number of volcanic eruptions contributed to the area. We stopped by a natural arch there, nature is amazing.

We drove around the area for a while seeing what we could find. In one part we found this old rancher's settlement. There were some neat ruins there.

 This was a cellar of some sort:

A washboard? Mining tool?

and then headed to hike along a sandstone bluff that overlooked the lava fields. It was quite the hike and we were able to find some pottery and some evidence of ruins. The hike itself was kind of strenuous because there was cacti everywhere and some thick sand in parts of it. It was a beautiful day for a hike though and we are looking forward to going back to the area to visit the lava tubes they have there!