New Mexico Camping: El Malpais National Conservation Area

Latitude, Longitude: 34.735, -107.930 Elevation: ~7100 ft
Weather Forecast: http://tinyurl.com/malpaisNCA
Fire Restrictions: http://firerestrictions.us/nm/nm-blm/rio-puerco-field-office/

One of our leaders recommended we go down to El Malpais for a campout in November 2015. We'd been in the Malpais before, but we had usually gone down highway 53 to the Ramah, NM area, or the Lava Tubes. This time, we went down highway 117 and hit some highlights of the Malpais National Conservation Area. It was a great trip.

BLM Page for El Malpais National Conservation Area

Map of El Malpais National Monument and El Malpais National Conservation Area

Being November, it was dark before we got down there, as it is a good 2 hour drive from Albuquerque. We hadn't identified an exact camping spot, but went to look for something decent. There is an established campsite on the east side of 117 just a bit south of the BLM Malpai Ranger Station. There is no fee, and there is a vault toilet. We checked it out, but the site we saw didn't have a ton of flat space, and it had a *lot* of cactus. Not a good pick for tent camping; at least as much as we could tell in the dark. So, we kept driving further south until we got past the Natural Arch and Narrows Picnic area, down into a BLM area open to dispersed camping. The general area was flat, with lots of open area in soft dirt to put down tents just off the road. There were periodic Mountain Juniper, and a few scragly Pines - with interesting rocky cliffs a quarter mile away. It was a fine campsite.

Climbing the cliffs near the campsite

The next morning, we waited for it to warm up a bit (it was near 20F that morning!), then some of the adults went exploring the cliffs while the boys cleaned up their area. Once we were packed up, we headed out to explore other areas.

We drove to La Ventana Natural Arch. I loved the hues of tan, red, and white cliffs, topped with green Juniper, contrasting against the deep blue New Mexico sky. It was wonderful. It was only a short hike, and while they don't let you go all the way up to the Arch anymore, it was still a good stop.

La Ventana Natural Arch

Then, we really had a heyday at the Sandstone Bluffs. It overlooks the lava field, so you can see for quite a ways, and the boys (and adults!) really enjoyed bouldering and just general scampering around the cliffs and exploring the rock formations. It was a beautiful place. All in all, a very successful campout. I think we'll go here again. I'll label this with "winter camping", because sometimes you want something in the November-February timeframe that is good for camping, but won't be a snow campout. I think this fits the bill for that type of winter camping. In general, I think Spring or Fall would be a good time to visit; I think it will likely be fairly hot in the summer.