Capulin Volcano
National Monument
Welcome!
Capulin Volcano lies within the 8,000-square-mile Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field. This showcase of the volcanic geology of northeastern New Mexico is spectacular day or night. The volcanic rim affords views of four states. Its setting has one of the darkest night skies in the country.
Stories from Capulin Volcano
With more than five miles of hiking trails ranging from easy to moderate, you can explore this fascinating, beautiful, and diverse landscape at a pace that works for you. There are also scenic routes you can drive and get a broader understanding of the volcanic history of this New Mexico park.
Bring Capulin Volcano Home
Your purchases support the parks. When you can’t get to a national park for a visit, experience it from the comfort of your home. WNPA’s online store is packed with ranger-approved park collectibles, books, toys, and clothing. Shop for a special item to commemorate a trip, share a memory with a nature lover or park enthusiast, or represent your favorite national parks.
Gallery
Explore Capulin Volcano National Monument
At the meeting place between the shortgrass prairie and the Rocky Mountains, Capulin Volcano National Monument protects a natural and cultural environment that is rich in opportunities to explore and study a dramatic volcanic landscape. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson established Capulin Volcano National Monument to preserve the nearly perfectly shaped volcanic cinder cone, which stands more than twelve hundred feet above the surrounding high plains of northeastern New Mexico. Just one of about a hundred volcanic features in the Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field, Capulin Volcano is one of the most accessible volcanoes in the world. A two-mile paved road spirals up to the volcano rim, providing unobstructed, panoramic views of the volcanic field, and distant Sangre de Cristo Mountains. With trails leading around the one-mile rim and to the bottom of the 415-feet-deep crater, you have the unique opportunity to take in some of the most spectacular views in the West.
WNPA has provided more than
$147 million
in aid to our partner parks to fund educational programs, initiatives, and scientific research
Kids in Parks
National parks are places where kids can dream up great adventures! Taking in amazing scenery. Testing out new skills. Exploring places kids may have only heard about. But most importantly, creating new memories with friends and family.
What’s Happening at This Park?
Stories from all parks
Our public lands are our public commons. They belong to all of us as part of our natural and cultural heritage. They remind us of a larger world that has existed long before the arrival of humans and will survive long after we are gone. –Terry Tempest Williams, Author & Conservationist
