Lunar landscape via New Mexico Volcanoes

This picture was taken along the road that leads to the iconic Capulin Volcano at the US Park Services National Monument of the same name.













Capulin Volcano is located roughly near Des Moines, NM, which is pretty much right next to nothing you've ever heard of.


The closest town in Oklahoma is actually only 75 miles away from the volcano.  But Kenton, OK, is also near the OK state line you've likely never crossed...the one that borders New Mexico.  When you leave Kenton headed west, it's not long before you run into dirt road (4x4 only in bad weather) and that then carries you further into New Mexico.

I've loved every visit to Capulin Volcano and once was able to make the one mile hike around the rim.  It's an obscure, but wonderful off-the-beaten-path sort of destination - my favorite kind.

If you are headed to Colorado Springs from Oklahoma, I highly recommend taking the volcano route (Amarillo | Dalhart | Clayton | Raton) since it costs you next to nothing in drive time but affords you lots in beautiful scenery.



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And as a bit of travelogue...

The view as you head west out of Oklahoma from Kenton.

The paved trail on the volcano and expansive view afforded from the same.

View from the top.  You can see the parking lot at the bottom right of the first pic and over my right shoulder in the second pic.

Loneliest Road things

Things you can do on Nevada's State Highway 50, a.k.a. the loneliest road in America.

Wichita Mountains Refuge - south entrance

This image (and admittedly odd crop) is of the south entrance into the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge.  It was taken a little before 0700hrs on an already brutally hot 2012 summer day!  The mist and soft light were a real treat for the time of day.

Highway to Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam

Remote.

Cirrus clouds in Utah

Cirrus clouds dominate the sky near Monument Valley in UT

A 'trip-stopper' New Mexico Sunset

Only occasionally when I'm in a big hurry will I stop for a site-see but in this instance I made an exception.  It's not often the sun shows itself in scale over a mountian, totally in concert with the clouds and creating a sunset like this.  You can see the sun glowing just above the outline of the mountain.  That's I-40 running through the bottom left of the frame.

Every few minutes brought a whole new scene so I hung out at this bridge until well after sunset.

Curvy...

The picture above was taken on a tiny state highway in the hills right abooooooooooout...here:

The road goes ever on...

Wichita Mountains in early light

Recently Katie (my 7yo daughter) and I took a trip for a day-hike up Elk Mountain in Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.  We wanted to arrive early to beat the heat and the sun was just starting to cast an early light.  We entered the park through the less oft-used south entrance from Cache, OK.  This picture is a view looking north on Highway 115 just before it intersects with Highway 49 that runs the length of the park from east to west.

Talimena Drive...to nowhere.

Talimena drive just east of Talahina, OK, in extremely dense fog and heavy rain.