{"id":268,"date":"2006-01-29T00:01:10","date_gmt":"2006-01-29T06:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/?p=268"},"modified":"2008-11-21T14:32:21","modified_gmt":"2008-11-21T20:32:21","slug":"hiking-the-narrows-rim-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/photos\/hiking-the-narrows-rim-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiking The Narrows Rim Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks ago, I took a drive <\/p>\n

out to El Malpais and hiked a new-to-me trail, The Narrows Rim Trail. It seems likely that this trail leads to an overlook opposite La <\/p>\n

Ventana Arch, but I didn’t make it that far.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Driving down 117, I made a brief <\/p>\n

stop at the Visitors Center (cell service but no wireless). I passed the Sandstone Bluffs Overlook (you should stop, if you’ve never <\/p>\n

been). I paused at La Ventana but didn’t get out. Then, about 3 miles later, I pulled over to the left to the not terribly well-marked <\/p>\n

picnic grounds (it’s just before things suddenly open up to the left).<\/p>\n

\"prevailing<\/a>The route up to the bluff is surprisingly easy, given the altitude <\/p>\n

gain. The trail has lots of cairns and alternates sandy and rocky. Following the rim in many places, you have spectacular views out over <\/p>\n

the lavaflows to the west and to the mountains beyond. This area has many stunted ponderosas whose twisted trunks attest to the steady <\/p>\n

winds.<\/p>\n

There is an elaborate marker at 2 miles. I turned back around 3 miles and I’m guessing (from maps) that it is not 4 miles <\/p>\n

to the end of the trail. I was probably close to the end, but afraid of staggering back under a full moon.<\/p>\n

Not too much farther <\/p>\n

south on 117, to the right, is the Lava Falls Trail. If you never have hiked on lava, this is a good place to get started with a 1 mile <\/p>\n

loop. The “falls” themselves disappointed me, but I loved the scramble beyond them to a kind of amphitheater.<\/p>\n

Of course, there is <\/p>\n

also the Zuni-Acoma Trail, 7 1\/2 miles across a narrow part of El Malpais. It’s truly wonderful. With more ponderosas, some quite large, <\/p>\n

it is much greener than one expects (but, definitely not a summer hike). If you don’t have time for the full ZAT, you get to lava sooner <\/p>\n

from the east end.<\/p>\n

On my drive back, I left pavement near the Visitors Center at a turn I’ve never noticed before to discover a <\/p>\n

BLM campground of about 10 sites widely separated (but virtually no visual separation). There’s a modern outhouse; probably tables and <\/p>\n

grills, but I can’t seem to recall. This spot has a nice view of the cliffs but not the lava (I think). It’s a bit close to the road, <\/p>\n

but I bet it’s quiet late at night. I’ll be back for an easy overnight close to home.<\/p>\n

A few days later, when Albuquerque didn’t <\/p>\n

get a storm that was teasing us, that storm passed right over this area. As did another a week or so later. Snow on lava is a very cool <\/p>\n

thing to see. mjh<\/span><\/p>\n

\"2005-01<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos<\/a> (15 this year, 18 from a year ago).
\nAlso 16 pictures from a ZAT hike<\/a> 3 years ago (including 2 maps).<\/p>\n

Park Service’s El Malpais website<\/a> (map as PDF).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of weeks ago, I took a drive out to El Malpais and hiked a new-to-me trail, The Narrows Rim Trail. It seems likely that this trail leads to an overlook opposite La Ventana Arch, but I didn’t make it that far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}