Leslie and David's Wanderings: 18 April 2019 Capulin Volcano National Monument

We waited until the afternoon to drive the short distance to Capulin Volcano NM to let it warm up a bit. The winds were blowing 10-15MPH, which made it a bit chilly. Leslie had been up late the night before, so David was trying to be quiet when he got up in the morning. But when I lit the stove for morning coffee, it went out indicating the propane tank had run out. So, when he went out to switch the tanks, he noticed a leak as he opened the value on the second tank. So he had to work on the leak. Unfortunately the propane tank is right under the bed. After getting it fixed, one of the other folks in the park had to stop by to talk about our rig and then our trucks (Ford verses GMC). As if that was not enough, as David sat down in the RV, the car alarm went off! Poor Leslie didn’t stand a chance of getting back to sleep!

Around one, we went to the visitor center and collected our 32^ndPassport Stamp. Our Americas Park pass had expired so we picked up another year pass and of course watched the park movie.

The land for Capulin Volcano NM was originally set aside in 1891 as the best example of a cinder cone volcano in the continental US. It was made a National Monument in 1916. The last tine it erupted was approximately 30,000 years ago. The area around the NM is very volcanic. All the peaks you can se nearby were older volcanoes (1-3 million years old). Scientists cannot explain why it is volcanic since it is not located on a plate boundary. They suspect it may be an old rift but are not certain.

We took the park road to the top of the volcano and hiked the rim trail. The views were awesome! You could see forever! The lava flows, pressure ridges and vents were easy to see. In the distance we could see the snowy peaks of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. The trail was pretty steep but was paved all the way around. We then took the side trail down into the caldron. The wind was blowing 20-25 MPH and the temperatures were pretty chilly, so the wind chill was just barely tolerable.

After leaving the national monument, we drove over to Folsom. Folsom is known as the place where the oldest known indications of human habitation in North America were found in 1908. Several ancient bison bones with a fluted lance flint head embedded in them were found following a flash flood. This established that man had been present at least 8,000 earlier than had been previously believed. The town is now pretty run down. The Folsom Hotel, on the national register of historic places, looks like it is about to fall in on itself. However, there is a “For Sale” sign in the window. It definitely needs some serious love! The storefronts in the downtown look like they have not been used for decades.

We got back to the park after checking out the general store on the corner and found that we had neighbors from Oregon. Deb and Bill were very interesting to talk to. They began RVing full time about a year ago too. We enjoyed their suggestions and all exchanged information. They were really fun to visit with and we hope to stay in touch.