Lava's Edge Trail, Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, Sunday, June 28, 2020

For a change, we drove out to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.  A couple of weeks ago, we hiked three of the shorter trails, but Lava's Edge Trail was not open - but it opened on the 17th.  There is a lot of black sand - it is the ground up black lava and the trail was mostly walking on soft sand, much like sand dunes.  That meant it required more work to walk than being on hard packed sand or dirt.  The info from the park was that it was 3.5 miles - my pedometer had it at 4.5 miles.  I think the difference was that we started at the Visitor Center rather than at the end of the campground.  They do label the trail as moderate and say it takes 2.5 hours to walk, probably because of the soft soil.

As the name implies, we walked near the edge of the lava flow, in places it was 15 to 20 feet tall.

Saw many snags - the remnants of trees that had died.  This one looked like some of the metal sculptures we have seen, but it is wood.

Many shapes and sizes and caves and piles, all to amaze you as you walk past them.

Many plants growing on the lava reminded us of the saying, "Nevertheless, she persisted!"

In places, the trail was on top of the edge and you could see the A'a lava for hundreds of yards in all directions.

It was hard work but well worth the effort.  Afterwords, we went out to lunch - for only the second time since March.  And again, it was a drive up booth at Sonic Burgers, we ordered from our car, our lunch was delivered to us and we ate in the car again.