Our next stop was to see the Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano, a privately-owned section within the El Malpais National Monument.
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| The Visitor Center is in the old Ice Caves Trading Post (1930s, as a saloon and dance hall, that used ice from the cave to keep the beer cold) |
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| A tree hole that was formed when lava flowed and quickly cooled around an existing tree, which then burned up |
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| An example of a spatter cone that forms when a surge of hot air rushes up through the lava and breaks through the surface, causing the lava to splash up and out (KSS) |
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| In the distance is a cinder cone, where high pressure lava sprayed out, hardening in mid-air and falling as cinders that piled up |
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| Leaching lava - over time, the elements present in lava will leach out showing white calcium, and yellow sodium and sulfur, as well as iron, silicon,aluminum, magnesium, and titanium (KSS) |
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| Devil's Playground is the beginning of the Bandera lava tube system that has since collapsed, leaving very sharp, jagged rocks |
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| Bandera Volcano Caldera (volcanic crater) of the largest volcano in the area that erupted about 10,000 years ago; it started as a cinder cone; however, the lava broke through on one side and flowed for nearly 23 miles/37 km |
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| Juniperis communis/Common Juniper tree trunk is twisted and gnarled because it cannot establish deep roots in the lava and are not supported in strong winds (KSS) |
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| Ribes cereum/Wax Currant |
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| Prevalent are Pseudotsuga menziesii/Douglas Fir Trees |
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| Pinus ponderosa/Ponderosa Pine |
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| Ponderosa pines have sets of three needles |
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| The bark of the ponderosa pine becomes cinnamon brown at about 90 years of age |
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| Juniperus deppeana/Alligator Juniper leaves |
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| Windblown trees |
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| Echinocereus mojavensis/Claret Cup Cactus |
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| A miniature lava tube in the pathway |
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| Surface lava tubes and vents (KSS) |
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| One surface tube was a home for the early Pueblo people (KSS) |
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| More evidence of human habitation |
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| Diphasiastrum alpinum/Alpine Clubmoss at lower left, and green and orange lichen |
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| Looking down at the 20'/6 m thick ice in the Ice Cave, which is insulated and shaped to trap frigid air and maintains a temperature of 31o F/0.5o C |
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| Tamiko down in the Ice Cave (KSS) |
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| Kent down in the Ice Cave |
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| 1950s postcard shows the ice wall that was left when ice used to be harvested from the cave for refrigeration (KSS) |
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| A display in the visitor center of the indigenous pottery that was found in the local ruins of human habitation; most of it is whole and not found in pieces |
Next: El Morro National Monument.
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