El Malpais National Monument
Ropey pāhoehoe, jagged ʻaʻā, lava tubes, cinder cones, arches, and ancient routes create one of New Mexico’s starkest volcanic landscapes.
Artwork inspired by Marsden Hartley
El Malpais preserves eruptions ranging from ancient flows to McCarty’s Flow, only a few thousand years old. Lava tubes, pressure ridges, collapsed roofs, cinder cones, and contrasting sandstone explain how basalt advanced and cooled. Indigenous travelers, Spanish expeditions, homesteaders, and the Continental Divide Trail all negotiated this difficult ground.
Start at the Grants visitor center, then choose either the eastern sandstone-and-arch corridor or western lava routes; they are not one short loop. Never enter a lava tube without checking permits, closures, equipment, and white-nose-syndrome decontamination rules. Sharp basalt destroys weak shoes and punishes falls.
- Entrance
- Free
- Caves
- Permit required; no solo permits
- Visit
- Half to full day
Quick guide
- Choose a corridor
- Sandstone and arches east, or lava country west
- Check access
- Confirm trail and parking closures before choosing a route
Choose one side of the lava country
- Begin in Grants
- Use the visitor center to check roads, permits, weather, and which side of the monument fits the day.
- Eastern corridor
- Pair sandstone bluffs and La Ventana Natural Arch rather than assuming every landmark lies on one short loop.
- Western corridor
- Approach lava flows in sturdy footwear and avoid El Calderon while its trail and parking remain closed.
- Caves
- Enter only an open permitted lava tube with 2–10 people, helmets, three lights each, and correctly decontaminated gear.
Good to know
Lava-cave access is seasonal and limited to caves named on the active permit. Permits require a group present at pickup, helmets, multiple independent lights, and compliant cave-gear decontamination; verify the open-cave list before packing equipment.
Notice these
- Young basalt flows
- La Ventana Natural Arch
- Lava tubes and cinder cones