Road Trip Travel Log 05.09.25

Road Trip Travel Log 05.09.25

After a pleasant enough night at the hotel in Albuquerque we enjoyed a hearty hotel breakfast of all the usual fare — eggs, sausage, potatoes, bagels, waffles, and (of course) my beloved Raisin Bran. We grabbed coffee at a Starbucks on the way out of town, remarking on the visible and sometimes sobering realities of the bad and better parts of the city. We were only a couple hours away from our first stop, and a chance to really stretch our legs after many hours of being on the road.

Before we reached our destination we were forced to backtrack a bit to fuel up the car. We were running a little low on gas and the road to the volcano takes you some distance off the main highway, along which route there are no available gas stations. At the place we stopped there was a cattle trailer that was transporting a very lively and rambunctious cow, on its way to some unknown ranch. I couldn’t quite tell if it was aggressive or just playful, but I’d never quite seen a cow behave that way, almost like a frisky dog that wants your attention. In retrospect I hope it wasn’t a sign of mad cow disease. I’ve heard it’s catching.

A little while later and we had arrived at the visitor’s center and gift shop — an old, rustic-looking log cabin still maintained by the family of the guy that originally bought the land and created it as a kind of natural history museum and Route 66 roadside attraction.

The gift shop is full of interesting local art, rocks and gems, Indian crafts, pottery, jewelry, tourist trap baubles, stickers, postcards, clothing, and the like. There is a small but fascinating museum highlighting some old artifacts that have been found on the property over the years. The shop keepers are very knowledgable about all of this and are happy to tell you all about it. THey’re very proud of the place, as they should be. A freezer holds ice cream and soft drinks for sale if you should work up a thirst hiking up the crater.

Just as soon as I entered the place, however, I made a beeline for the bathroom. It was small and dark, with nice real wood paneling, and an old low-flow flimsy toilet that seemed suitable for an trailer house. The sewer plumbing was almost certainly an afterthought, as was evidenced by the old outhouse which still stands out back, and by which you pass as you make your way up the path to the crater.

As I exited I almost apologized to the man I assumed had been waiting on me, but it turned out to be just a life-sized statue of an Indian.

It’s not a very complicated route. You just sort of wind your way up the side till you reach the top. There is a single branch off the main track that takes you down to the ice cave. There is plenty to observe along the way, though.

They provided a little pamphlet with various facts about the crater and ice cave, as well as more general features of the natural environment. We decided to take the tour part seriously and stopped at all the marked points, educating ourselves as to the landscape and history of the place. It helped get us into the spirit.

The weather was beautiful. Slightly warm in the sun. Cool in the shade. Gorgeous sunny day.

This was our first little hike after setting out from Dallas. We were already at a decent elevation of around 8000 feet. I figured this would be a good way to help break our lungs in for the slightly more rigorous walks we had planned at Grand Canyon. And so it was. I was a little embarrassed to find myself panting slightly whenever I tried to talk much on the way up. That being said, it was a fairly easy hike that would pose no real difficulty to the majority of flatlanders.

As we walked on up the hill we encountered a couple of other folks who stopped to talk with us. Sometimes when people spot the camera they tell us about an animal they saw further up the trail. This one couple had seen a hawk, or maybe an eagle. I tried to keep a good lookout for it, but I never could spot it. Surely Kassi would have, at any rate, had it hung around long.

The final overlook into the crater seemed to come quicker than I was expecting. It’s an impressive sight.

The colors of the earth as rays of light filtered down from the clouds almost seemed to change colors of the soil moment to moment, from dark gray to a burnt red. You get a good look at the full extent of the crater, but you don’t seem to be able to truly summit the hill, much less walk the perimeter of the crater. No matter.

My eyes were drawn to one little dead gray tree that still stood erect about halfway down the crater on the side opposite us. It was a curious looking thing. Perhaps the victim of an ill-placed lightning strike, or some beetle infestation. Whatever the case, it seemed kind of spooky, just perched there on its own amidst the gray volcanic rocks.

We backtracked and made our way toward the ice cave, stopping numerous times along the way for the younger one to rest his lungs. It was a very dry environment, with desert wildlife and flora. The ground just off the main path was nothing but a tumble of black rock, small twisted trees, scrub brush, and lava tubes, which we read about. David Paulides in his Missing 411 book series talks about how many people go missing in those tubes, or in areas where they can be found. I suppose it would be fairly easy to break your legs or hips if you were to accidentally fall in one. Most of the time they appear like caves.

While trying to take pictures of this little lizard (we were corrected that it was properly called an “anole”) we met a couple from the East Coast who were fortunate enough to be able to spend their golden years traveling the world as they pleased. They were with a dog and we mentioned that we’d be getting one soon. The lady gave us a recommendation on some dog food brand that she preferred. They were pleasant enough.

Finally, when we reached the the Ice Cave we found that it was descended by a long winding staircase. The staircase was built by the original owner and creator of the attraction. Although made of solid materials, it had a slightly sketchy feel to it. Perhaps it was because of the uneven boards that made up the steps, which could present a tripping hazard if you’re not careful or are moving too fast.

The existence of the Ice Cave seems to defy all common sense, being completely open as it is to the sky and warm summer air. It maintains its frozen state during the height of the New Mexico summer, with general surrounding temps reaching 100 degrees ore more. Of course how all this is possible was explained in the pamphlet, which we dutifully read and completed at this last stop of the tour, but it just seems hard to imagine. As you descend the steps you can feel the air chill dramatically.

If you look back over your shoulder as you make your way down, you will notice that the stones are covered in brilliant green and red moss. It’s very striking. The moisture, cooler temperatures, and lack of direct sunlight all make for a favorable environment. According to “Science”, some of the algae here are typically only found in tundra and glacial environments, and its presence here has never been satisfactorily explained.

I made a mental note to score another point for spontaneous generation theory.

A sign gives you the TLDR of how all this ice came to be, but it still feels like leaving your freezer door wide open. Things are bound to thaw.

One wonders what something like this must have meant for the native Americans who lived in this place. I mean, they tell you this, too, in the little pamphlet. But the actual gut impact of experiencing something so out of the ordinary and counterintuitive and (dare I say) quite pleasant on a hot summer day must have been extraordinary. It’s too bad that the waters are so tainted with algae and bacteria, because it would have been nice to be able to break off a few small chunks to cool your Southwestern beverage of choice. Might have been worth serious bragging rights.

That afternoon we made our way to Williams, Arizona, to have dinner at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel, and then on to our rented cabin near the park. The next day would see us at the Canyon proper, with a sightseeing walk around the South Rim from the Yavapai Museum of Geology to the El Tovar hotel.

P.S. Here I thought you might enjoy a couple of videos we watched that inspired us to visit.

Professional and photogenic world explorers!

Boisterous man-child traveling with cats and girlfriend!