2024-8-28 Valley of Fires BLM and Capitan NM

 Our last field trip while in Ruidoso was to the Valley of Fires Recreation Area (BLM Land) and Capitan. Valley of Fires NM is sometimes confused with a state park with the same name in Nevada I believe. There is a nice campground here that I stayed in on a trip several years ago. They have water and electric hookups as well as a tenting area. And there are restrooms and showers. It's interesting because you are traveling across flat land when this volcanic rift appears.

You can see the volcanic lava here.

There is a nice walking trail next to the campground but you need to stay on the path because the volcanic rock is very sharp.

Our next stop was the Smokey Bear Historical Park in Capitan.

Smokey was found clinging to a tree in the midst of a forest fire. He was rescued and turned over to a vet who took care of his burned paws and nursed him back to health. Of course, he didn't really look much his alter ego. He was flown to the Washington D.C. Zoo where he lived until his natural death. He had a female mate but they never had any cubs. There is a movie at the museum along with a lot of memorabilia and things relating to the campaign against forest fires. 

There is a nice little park with the museum with different types of landscapes native to New Mexico.

When Smokey passed away, he was flown back to Capitan and secretly buried during the night due to fear of vandalism. A ceremony honoring him was later held here.

This is the Smokey Bear place but also honors fallen firefighters with a memorial.

Kids around the world know who Smokey Bear is.

It's an interesting visit especially for kids. We had lunch at Oso restaurant which was very busy with locals and visitors.

Valley of Fire NM

Our next stay was at Valley of Fire BLM Park which is 4 miles west of Carrizozo, New Mexico on Hwy 380. After 380 and 70 (to Ruidoso) separated, the road was a bit rough for quite a ways. We ran into a heavy rainstorm that slowed us to a crawl but fortunately it only lasted only about 10 minutes.

Valley of Fires is a nice park with water and electric hookups, covered picnic tables, and garbage cans at each site. They also have nice tent areas. Mary Jane and I shared a double space which was no problem. They were having a water leak problem while we were there so the water was off most of the time but they turned it on each morning so you could fill your tanks.

There is a visitor's center and gift store and a couple of great camphosts.

These are the tent sites with parking places and fenced areas for each site.

The tent areas sit lower than the RV spaces and are more sheltered.

In addition to being centrally located for visiting numerous places within an hours drive, the big draw is the Malpais Nature Trail. The geology in this area is really unique. You drive across the high desert plain and then you come upon this volcanic flow. This is probably the youngest lava flow in the continental U.S. as it is only 1500 to 2000 years old.

The lava spewed from volcanic vents in the northern end on at least two occasions and flowed south along the floor of th Tularosa Basin for 44 miles. It covered the valley floor and occastionally would surround areas of higher ground forming islands of older rocks called kipukas. The campground is on one of the larger kipukas and is composed of sandstone and soil.

There is a really nice trail leading out into the volcanic area. The smooth or ropey-looking lava is called Pahoehoe. There are also small areas of a'a (pronounced ah--ah. The lava is more than 160 feet thick near the center.

We didn't see any of the Barbary sheep or mule deer that live on the lava flow but Claudia saw a ring-tailed cat and I saw this little guy.

This is a great example of the ropey lava.

These are older rocks surrounded by the lava.

This was a nice place to camp in spite of the water problems. Since we could run off our water tanks, it really didn't bother us much. It was nice and quiet.