Michael Janke

Came east on US-64. Saw a sign for Capulin Volcano National Monument. Conquered the rim trail.

The Capulin Volcano is a relatively recent volcano in a large volcanic field that stretches across northeast New Mexico from near Raton to Clayton. Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field covers about 7500 sq. miles of New Mexico and smidgens of Colorado and Oklahoma.  

We drove up to the top of the volcano and hiked the 1-mile trail around the volcano rim. There are great views of the surrounding plains – ranch land and remnents of ancient lava beds.

After visiting El Malipas in 2019, the Carrizozo Lava Flow, in 2020, the Valles Caldera a few days ago, and now the Capulin v

Volcano, I’m starting to think there is something about New Mexico and volcanos. Time to start digging…

[Long pause…]

Turns out there is. Down the center of New Mexico is the Rio Grande Rift, where continent is separating – I.E. being torn apart. Western New Mexico is moving west & away from eastern New Mexico at a rate of about a millimeter per year.

Along the rift are volcanic areas. It’s not clear to me if the rift is causing the volcanic activity or if they’re unrelated. Nor is it clear why there is any relative motion at that point of the continent. Perhaps California is trying to move away from Texas for some reason and taking Arizona with it. Completely unrelated to politics, of course.

To help clarify the various volcanic features, I’ve drawn a highly detailed map of New Mexico, with scientific and geological features highlighted.

Crossing the Plains

We’ve done most of US-64 across New Mexico at various points in time. While driving today, I thought about the cultural fascination with Route 66, which at one time crossed the western US. It’s gone now – most of it paved over by I-40. There is no such cultural nessus around the other east-west routes west of the Mississippi.

Too bad. There’s probably interesting stories on those routes too.

Besides the Interstate Highways, we’ve crossed the plains on Route 2 across Montana, Routes 212, 14, and 18 across South Dakota, Route 20 across Nebraska, and Routes 56, 54 and 60 across Kansas and Oklahoma. They’re all decent routes if one wants to avoid the Interstates. You get a much better sense for the rural plains states when you’re off the Interstate.

We’re heading back east with no idea which of the routes we’ll take this time. Maybe see which way the wind is blowing.