Capulin Volcano National Monument

What if I told you that you could visit a real, active volcano right in the middle of the United States? You'd say I was lying, and you'd be right because Capulin Volcano isn't active and hasn't been for 60,000 years. But you can still visit a volcano right in the middle of the country! 

Capulin Volcano is considered one of the world's best examples of a cinder cone volcano. Its distinctive, nearly-symmetrical conical shape is relatively well-preserved, and has taught geologists a lot about how these types of volcanoes form. But even if you're not interested in geology, the great views and abundant plant and animal life will make this a memorable place to visit! 

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Capulin Volcano is located in the northeastern corner of New Mexico, about halfway between the towns of Clayton and Raton. I approached from Clayton, and the volcano's distinctive cone rises up above the surrounding plains and is visible for miles. I visited in mid-August, and many of the surrounding fields were covered in sunflowers. I got this amazing view at a roadside historical marker on Highway 64 about 8 miles east of the monument. 

Your first stop should be the visitors' center, where you can watch a short video about Capulin's geology and history and view the informative displays on how a cinder cone is formed. A cinder cone is your classic sort of volcano, where a vent forms in the earth's crust and shoots lava and ash high in the air. The ash and cooling cinders fall to the ground surrounding the vent, and (since a greater amount of ash settles near the vent's opening) takes on the shape of a cone. Successive eruptions add layer after layer to the cone, causing it to grow taller and taller with each eruption. A crater usually forms at the top of a cinder cone because the force of the eruption blasts and erodes away the tip of the cone. 

Capulin Volcano is the most notable out of hundreds of smaller volcanoes in an area of northeastern New Mexico called the Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field. Volcanoes are very common at the edges of continental plates, such as the Ring of Fire encircling the Pacific Ocean, but volcanoes in the middle of a continent like this one are much rarer. The most likely explanation for New Mexico's volcanoes is a small mid-continent rift. As geologic forces within the earth slowly pull a chunk of the American West away from the rest of the continent, certain other parts of the continent (known as "rifts") become stretched thin, like pulled taffy. One such rift runs through the center of New Mexico, and is actually part of a larger system of rifts extending all the way from New Mexico to Oregon. The thinner continental crust in these rift areas makes it easier for underground pockets of magma to break through to the surface in the form of volcanoes. 

Anatomy of a volcano

The Rio Grande Rift in central New Mexico

On the opposite side of the parking lot from the visitors' center is the trailhead for the one-mile Lava Flow Trail. This easy, mostly flat trail takes you across an old lava flow from one of Capulin Volcano's previous eruptions, affording you some great up-close views of the volcano. 

The trail also takes you past massive hunks of rock like these, which were all ejected from the volcano during one of its eruptions. Imagine these huge boulders shooting out of the volcano, flying through the air, and landing where they still stand today! 

After you've explored the area below the volcano, the only way to go is up! A curving road leads to the edge of the crater on top of the volcano. On your way up, make sure to take a glance at the exposed subsurface rock in the road cuts, where you can see some of the many layers of volcanic ash that make up the cinder cone. 

The parking lot at the top of the volcano is perched right on the rim of the crater. You can look one direction and get a spectacular view across the surrounding countryside... 

and look in the other direction for a great view down into the crater itself. 

There are two trails up top. One short, easy trail leads down into the bottom of the crater, and gives you the unique perspective of standing right on top of this (now dormant) volcanic vent. Imagine molten lava spewing forth from the bowels from the earth mere feet in front of where you stand. Neat! 

A second mile-long path encircles the crater's rim. Fair warning though: it may not look it from where you're standing in the parking lot, but there's actually a sizable elevation difference from this side of the crater to the other. So at times, the path gets pretty steep! 

The views are definitely worth the steep climb! From the opposite side, you can really appreciate the size of the crater. And how much higher this side is than the other side! 

Encircling the crater rim trail also gives you 360 degrees of spectacular views across the surrounding countryside. If you look carefully you can even find one of the many other volcanoes that dot the landscape. Apparently, there are more than 100 dormant volcanoes in the Capulin region! Though very few are as large or as perfectly-shaped as Capulin, so most are not so obviously identifiable as this one. 

I shall call you..... Mini-Capulin.

The plant and animal life at the volcano was also quite remarkable. Traveling to New Mexico in August, I was expecting most of the landscape to be relatively dry and barren, but that wasn't the case at all! Wildflower sightings started with the vast field of sunflowers on the roadside on the way leading up to the volcano, but the real highlight came at the rim of the crater. The volcano's elevation is high enough that it actually creates its own microclimate: the climate at the top of the volcano is different enough from the climate of the surrounding lowlands that it supports a different set of plant species that can't be found at the base of the volcano. The most noticeable example of this is that you'll only fine pine trees on the higher parts of the crater's rim; they won't grow below a certain elevation. But you'll also see a surprising diversity and variety of wildflowers as you move from the surrounding plains to the crater rim. 

There is also animal life to be seen. One of the strangest animal sightings was a few bushes that were absolutely covered with hundreds of ladybugs. Apparently at certain times of year, they swarm like this and all gather in one place. Crazy. 

Also spotted a mother deer and her baby darting across the crater, as well as a few hummingbirds, which pass through the region on their migration and are naturally attracted to the abundant wildflowers! I mean, it's a gorgeous place. If I was a hummingbird, I would definitely come here!