Big Tubes 4WD

This is a short video from our last trip to the Big Tubes, one of the many volcanic landscapes found around El Malpais National Monument in western New Mexico. If you go all the way to the Big Tubes Parking area, the road goes on past and connects to a whole network of rutted, muddy dirt roads. Needless to say, you need a 4WD vehicle for this, but if you have one, this is a great spot for driving around. The flat land immediately adjacent to the lava field is gorgeous and was full of wildflowers when we were there this summer. You can kind of see the lava field itself around 40 seconds in, off to the left. The lava has left huge mounds of rock over miles of land, which juts spectacularly out of the surrounding meadows. The song in the background is a Grateful Dead cover by The Mad Anthonys, one of my old bands.