El Calderon

El Calderon (large cauldron) is a great introduction to El Malpais’s volcanic underworld. The name refers to a large bowl-shaped volcanic crater at the end of a maintained loop trail that doesn’t require a permit-and-4WD expedition like Big Tubes does. Along the way, you’ll encounter a popular bat colony, lava tube entrances, and a huge number of wildflowers in season!

What to Do

The full route is a figure-eight of about 4.8 miles combining a longer forest loop with a shorter 1.1-mile rim walk, and you can shorten it further by cutting back on a dirt road. The first mile passes several lava tube cave entrances, including Bat Cave, where thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats fly out at dusk on summer evenings. The trail climbs onto El Calderon cinder cone itself, then crosses the younger Twin Craters lava flow before optionally connecting to the Continental Divide Trail on the way back. Xenolith Cave, reachable from a side trail, is open to explore with the free caving permit required elsewhere in the monument (available at the visitor center), and like all El Malpais caves it’s closed November through April for bat hibernation.

How Much Time to Spend

The short rim loop and a look at the cave entrances takes about an hour. Doing the full figure-eight, with time to see Xenolith Cave, is closer to three hours. My favorite thing about the trail is the combination of volcanic features and wildflowers you see during warmer months making the landscape look quite alien! This is the best reason to visit in my opinion.

Getting There

El Calderon sits about 20 miles south of Grants on NM 53, part of the Trail of the Ancients Scenic Byway, with a parking area and trailhead directly off the highway. The route is generally accessible year-round, though snow can complicate the higher forested sections in winter.

El Calderon is a great first stop before Big Tubes. You can get a taste of El Malpais’s volcanic landscape and decide if you want to tackle more remote areas afterward!