Bandera Crater, New Mexico

The Continental Divide curves around the northern base of an old volcano called Bandera Crater. The crater is one of several in this area that created the massive volcanic flow known as the Malpais Lava Beds, as if the lava flowed out of a crack in the Continental Divide, and flowed towards the eastern drainage before freezing solid, 10,000 years ago. The lava fields cover a hundred square miles, and in places are nearly impossible to walk on. The region was considered as a place to test the first atomic bomb, but the Jornada del Muerto was selected instead, and El Malpais is now a National Monument. At Bandera Crater, the lava field is wide and deep, but has paths cut through it. At one point there is a stairwell leading into the ground, ending in an ice cave with a fetid pool. The area around the crater is privately owned, and the family that owned it developed it into a tourist attraction in the 1940s, with a small museum, gift shop, and campground.