Chain of Craters

	Large -- Medium Thursday we headed down Chain of Craters road. We can see a lot of the volcanic peaks from our property.
	Large -- Medium Taun We was co-pilot in charge of looking for cows.
	Large -- Medium We climbed all the way to the right volcanic peak.
	Large -- Medium We parked by those water (?) tanks. The yellow XTerra is there, peeking out from behind some trees.
	Large -- Medium Schamali and Gwen, trudging up the hill. The first part was VERY steep. I think this part was a lot less steep.
	Large -- Medium Genubi keep stopping in the tree shade.
	Large -- Medium At last we made it to the top!
	Large -- Medium Some other craters from the top.
	Large -- Medium Panorama from the top -- ghost Gwens and Huskies are artifacts :)
	Large -- Medium Here is Gwen next to the huge cairn marking the top of the hill.
	Large -- Medium Jason
	Large -- Medium Gwen
	Large -- Medium Gwen and Jason

For the story of what happened on the way DOWN the mountain, see Jason's description on Gwen's blog: http://europas-ice.livejournal.com

Next we stopped at the Big Tubes Area in El Malpais National Monument.

	Large -- Medium Red cactus flower.
	Large -- Medium Yellow cactus flower.
	Large -- Medium After a short hike, we made it to the collapsed lava tube that this area shows off. There is a narrow strip that didn't collapse, forming an arch.
	Large -- Medium Standing at the arch and looking back, the tube continues underground. Note Jason for scale.
	Large -- Medium Looking the other way, up the collapsed tube from the arch, the tube is filled with basaltic rubble.
	movie of the collapsed tube.
	movie of Jason on narrow lava bridge.
	Large -- Medium And up just a bit farther, the tube again heads underground. Again, see Jason for scale.
	Large -- Medium Next we stopped at El Morro National Monument.
	Large -- Medium There was a very short hike up a paved path to the area of interest.
	Large -- Medium The towering sandstone bluffs were magnificent.
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	Large -- Medium This pool, sheltered by the rock, made (makes?) an important oasis for wildlife in the area.
	Large -- Medium However, one of the main draws of this location is the ancient graffiti, like this one from 1866.
	Large -- Medium There are engravings along this portion of the wall, dating from as far back as the 1600's.
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	Large -- Medium R.T. Barnes, July 1868!
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	Large -- Medium When we were almost home, a couple lots over from our property we saw these elk. Jason used the super-zoom on his camera to get this shot.
	Large -- Medium That night, Taun We cuddled up in the other sweater I made her to stay warm.