Last weekend I went to Capulin Volcano National Monument and spent the day there with some friends. It was about a 3.5 hour drive from Albuquerque, and the weather was beautiful once again. We actually went on Memorial day since everyone was off. Capulin is located near the Colorado/New Mexico border, near the town of Raton. You can drive to the top of the volcano and walk into the crater and around the rim. This is exactly what we did. It's a good place to have a picnic too. I would recommend going here if you're headed in that direction (say, on your way to Denver or something), but driving from Albuquerque just to see it may not be worth your while. There's a 60 mile stretch of boring flat planes landscape that is mind-numbing and arguably one of the most boring stretches of highway in NM.
The photos above are from inside the bottom of the crater. The "hiking" trail to the bottom and along the rim were paved... a toddler could hike it without a problem. So no serious hiking here... we weren't even allowed to hike off the paved trail. It was a bit disappointing. Is it still considered "hiking" if it's paved? I say no. There was even a park bench along the rim trail. Look for the park bench in the other posted photos.
For more info on Capulin Volcano, visit the offical website here:
http://www.nps.gov/cavo/
Ironically, my favorite photo I took on the Capulin trip was this one of two lady bugs on a leaf. They were sitting in a tree near the bottom of the volcano. It gave me a chance to play with the Macro setting, and I love how this composition came out with the light and shadows. Special thanks to Janel for spotting these bugs for me.
