Raton Clayton Volcanic Field

The Raton Clayton Volcanic Field: Capulin Volcano was a awesome surprise. If you ever find yourself in the Northwest quadrant of New Mexico, I command you to visit Capulin Volcano and the volcanic fields. Lands strewn with volcanoes, lava rocks, huge ranches and fields. I suppose the main attraction being Capulin Volcano National Monument, as I didn't have the time to really dig into what else might be fun.

The landscape drastically changes outside Trinidad,CO - from mountains to fields but not flat - rather like an undulating large body of water with random mountains scattered about. It is hilly and almost seems void of the crazy amount of normal human destruction in the form of scattered broken fences every hundred feet, small farms with their collection of mess everywhere, and the usual crap that might be expected when people really don't put a lot of effort into the beauty surrounding them - southeast Colorado might ring a bell. This area is primarily large ranches that own most of the land i.e, CS Ranch with =/= 100,000 acres = they literally own volcanoes. This could be a negative or positive depending on what you consider important. On one hand, locking down huge swaths of land keeps it clutter free but also prevents access to much of the interesting locations. This translates into you might not be able to get as close as you would like to distant volcanoes or lanscapes - this impacts photography and activities.

The point is this area is very unique - perfect for photography and the reason I stayed a bit. Some photos were taken during very harsh lighting conditions and some closing in on golden hour but regardless, it is a photographer's paradise. I found that driving to the top of Capulin Volcano was a good way to see many inactive volcanoes and help put the landscape into perspective. While there, a park ranger at the top parking area pointed out around 14 volcanoes. Check out the following photos for views. They also have trails. That would probably be something to do if you aren't in a rush like I was. I suggest golden hour for photography of course. Look around - find some trails and check out the lava rock fields. NOTE: I reviewed google maps and alltrails - surprisingly the only hiking i found was on Capulin itself. The surrounding areas seemed devoid of them or they aren't listed but a few map reviews seemed to suggest you can drive then hike some of the other volcanoes. This is likely do to these huge ranches simply blocking off access.

Here a couple from the top of Capulin - miles and miles. Full gallery link at the bottom of page.

Distant volcano from the top of Capulin

Another view from the peak of Capulin: vast fields and distant volcono