El Malpais

 I'm sure I've heard  of area called the Malpais and some related treasure tales, Has there been some TV documentaries ? Seldom and BA could you give a bit more info ? Anyone with something to contribute please do. Starboss if you go there take photos, and don't forget to post us a report of how it was. Good luck with your adventure  

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 Thanks BA for giving out a bit of a lay of the land. Sounds like a bit of history going down in that area.
 So was it a hang out for bandits and the like.

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Well, I wouldn't be looking for the Lost Adams Diggings in the malpais, but I do think that the Diggings are located within a day of the malpais.   As far as outlaws hiding out there, they might in ones or twos, but I'd expect it to be more of a refuge for small bands of renegade Indians....and even then only when the army was in hot pursuit.  Plenty of other places to hide nearby that are more hospitable.

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		Quote:			Posted by starboss
	Salt Lake City w/winter home in St. George, Utah.

Well that nixes the idea that I had for you for a nice Sunday afternoon drive if you were in Albuquerque or Santa Fe     There were a couple of routes that included driving around the Malpais that I used to take any time I felt I needed to get away for a long afternoon attitude adjustment.


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		Quote:			Posted by seldom
	Thats some pretty hard country to survive in even today can't see them hard cases staying long.

I agree with Seldom about none of them having much money.....and to a certain extent about the land not being too hospitable even today.  Inside the Malpais proper the lands pretty much designed to wear you down and wear you out (if it doesn't cut you to shreds first).....BUT there are a lot of places in it that act as natural water cachement basins.   Most of them are really small and dry up quickly in the summer, but there are a few that are large enough and shaded enough that they can have at least stagnant water most of the year.   And while I wouldn't want to hide in the malpais for any length of time, I sure could see myself hiding in the mountains literally across the road from them  (except for that ever constant threat of hostile indians---at least back then especially when a lot of these guys never took the time to figure who the friendlies were and weren't and even the friendlies could be "difficult" if you were where you weren't supposed to be).   IF I were a successful outlaw and IF I ever managed to accumulate enough wealth that I'd feel like stashing it instead of spending it all, I'd pick the mountains overlooking the Malpais.   Biggest problem with that is the area really isn't very convenient to either the conveniences of the day (whiskey, women, supplies, etc) or any settlements of any size.  You've got mining communities down in the Mogollons (around Pinos Altos and Silver City) to the south, and you've got Grants, Gallup, and Ft Wingate to the West and Northwest...but all those are well over a day away.   Albuquerue, Santa Fe, and the mining communities between them are a long hard ride to the East.     You're basically in the middle of nowhere and surrounded (literally) by Indians.

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