Our time in New Mexico is at an end and we are heading into Colorado. For the past 4 days we have been staying at the Cedar Rail Campground at the top of the Raton Pass on the border between Colorado and New Mexico.
There are several attractions close to Raton that we wanted to visit. One was Sugarite Canyon State Park. We wanted to camp here but the RV limit size was 25’. It is listed as one of the top 10 campgrounds and we saw why. Tree covered mountains and a beautiful lake made for a picturesque setting. Who wouldn’t want to camp here!
Also close to our campground is the extinct Capulin Volcano. It’s cone is chiefly made up of loose cinders (frothy chunks of volcanic rock) and these types of volcanoes have only one period of activity.
The volcano still looks like a volcano because after the main eruption the lava flows did not com from the main crater but from its boca (that’s Spanish for mouth). Here is a picture from the upper rim…
…and one from the bottom.
As we walked around the top of the we saw the snowcapped mountain tops in Colorado.
Somewhere out in the distance is Oklahoma.
Lava flows from the volcano cover 15.7 square miles over the Rayton-Clayton volcanic field.
I wanted to go to the Maxwell Nature Preserve and John wanted to do some off-roading. Both of those adventures turned out to be a bust. The lakes at the Nature Preserve were dried up and all we saw was a few pronghorn. The area where we thought we would do some jeepin’ was all fenced off. Oh well we did see some nice scenery.
Colorado mountains here we come! Next stop Colorado Springs!
