El Malpais National Monument
New Mexico

El Malpais ("The Badlands," in Spanish) is a mixed grassland and pinyon-juniper forest that was covered in rivers of lava 2,000 to 3,000 years ago -- just yesterday in geological time. The lava flows have made this area a geographical barrier to travel by Indians, conquistadors, homesteaders, and Continental Divide Trail hikers, though we all have probably have been captured by its uniqueness and stark beauty. My arrival at El Malpais was greeted with a string of thunderstorms that stuck around well into the night, clearing temporarily just before sunset to create this amazing scene.