Pronounced el mahl-pie-ees; which means ‘bad land’ in Spanish, El Malpais National Monument consists of almost 200 square miles of lava flows abutting adjacent sandstone. Five major flows have been identified; the most recent one is pegged at 2000 to 3000 years old. Prehistoric Native Americans may have witnessed the final eruptions since local Indian legends refer to ‘rivers of fire.’ Scenic Hwy 117 leads modern-day explorers past cinder cones and spatter cones, smooth pahoehoe lava and jagged aa lava, ice caves and a 17-mile-long lava tube system.
