Capulin Volcano National Monument — Local services in Four Corners States

You don't have to be a geologist or a volcanologist to appreciate this very obvious crater that was once an active volcano. And even if you don't care about the eruptive history of this location, the views are spectacular.

We drove through and were fortunate to stop early March right after a snowfall. The weather was perfect for ensuring roads were clear, but the thin layers of snow over the hills and the countryside created a picture perfect memory for the family. Our three teens moaned a little about stopping at another scenic National Park but then quickly wanted to run down to the center of the crater to check it out. They even participated willingly (though maybe not eagerly) in the family photos!

The drive took us about 20-30 minutes out of our way roundtrip with another 30-45 minutes at the top. There are two hiking trails, one along the top of the crater for 1 mile and the second one down to the center for 0.2 mile (we did not take the long one). There is an upscale outhouse at the top for restroom breaks. If you walk about 10-15 minutes along the crater room hike, starting at that bathroom, you will see the interesting outcome from when lightning struck a bench.

The visitor center is small, but has just enough history of the site to add value to the trip without torturing the younger ones, and of course, they have all the National Park Service...

I was torn on how to rate this place. If you’ve never been anywhere.. it’s just “meh”. The visitor center is quaint, but has the passport area with custom sticky notes (if you’re a nerd like me and collect the cancellations.) the staff were really nice and the place was clean. The actual monument and hike itself was underwhelming. Don’t get me wrong, the view for being that part of New Mexico was great, but it was a 1 mi hike around a big hill. Not too exciting. I suppose it’s cool that it was a volcano. I was able to show my kids volcanic rock. The visitor center has a little 15m movie explaining the place, but holy cow the BUGS were insane! My 5 year old daughter almost fell off the trail down the 300 ft elevation gain… while beating the bugs off of herself. On a positive note, they don’t bite, but for a little girl scared of anything with 6 legs, it was terrifying. 100s of insects stuck all over our clothing. If you are passing and have time to kill, why not. Definitely do NOT recommend if you have a big rig OR are towing. Parking lot doesn’t allow for...

This place is absolutely awesome! The drive up around the volcano is great! The lot at the top is small so there may be a wait at the bottom of the road until more spots free up. You can hike the brim of the volcano on a small paved trail and walk down to the area of eruption its very cool. NOTE: I would have given the place 5 stars but the lady at the desk taking my payment was so rude and obnoxious for no reason and was threatening me. Her name was (Dara Hicks) i believe and darker skin color. She immediately got angry and threatening to me when i simply asked why they were not taking cash. She snapped and threw a paper at me and told me to read it. I said your website did not say this and i dont have time to read all this paper. She then threatened to get her manager and said i had an issue with her which i did not. She gave me so much grief for no reason so watch out for her attitude and report her management as her terrible attitude is simply unacceptable to...