White to Black

 2/17- Carrizozo NM Valley of Fire BLM

   We went from brilliant white to the darkest black all in one day. From the shimmering dunes of White Sands we drove further up the valley to find one of the newest lava flows in the US. The lava boiled up from a hole in the earth’s crust and flowed down this valley about 5000 years ago. The hill we are camped on was an island in this river of molten lava. You can still see the flow marks where it started to cool. There are big caves where bubbles of gas blew out. We did hike out onto the lava on a trail and the ranger encouraged us to step off the trail. They even suggested we hike to the mountain where it all started. Well first off it was so filled with giant holes and pressure ridges that it would have been impossible to walk in anything like a straight line. The lava is really hard and very black and a lot is covered with all kinds of prickly plants. It did not seem like a great idea. Maybe they are trying to Darwin some of the idiots out there. 

    They had a fairly large list of critters they said you were likely to see which included big horn sheep, eagles, and snakes and lizards. How anything could exist and move through this stuff amazed me. Of course we saw nothing of any kind of animal. 

    It was again very windy today rocking the rv in the park. It calms down after sunset but as the day heats up the wind picks up. I was kind of hoping the wind would blow over these black rocks and make things a little warmer but alas it was not to be. It is amazing how cold the desert gets at night when it is so warm during the day. The rv will be 80 + degrees in the day and by midnight will be down in the lower 50’s. 

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