In the southern section of El Malpais National Monument is the Lava Falls Trail. This one mile loop winds its way through the park's most recent lava flow. We started our hike immediately after a strong rainstorm left the area. It was overcast skies and cool but humid.

The lava is old enough that it is quite broken up, but new enough that you can still make out the texture that it had when it was fresh. Various plant life has started to grow in the lava field. Surprisingly, there is also lava cactus!

The trail is named after a section where lava slowly dripped down over a previously hardened section. This produced an unusual appearance to the new lava as it hardened.

A very interesting area to walk around and explore! As we headed back along the loop, it started raining again. We got quite wet but it was a worthwhile experience!