Wait – A Volcano Made This New Mexico Cave Freeze?

Land Of Enchantment? Nope, New Mexico is the land of fire and ice - thanks to a volcano, NM has a cave that's frozen year 'round and has been for 3,400 years.

In between Grants and Gallup, New Mexico, (about 5 hours from El Paso), you'll find the Zuni mountains. Within them is a cave that, despite the high desert heat, remains frozen year 'round.

A true ice cave with areas where the ice is 20 feet thick.

It all began with a volcano that spewed lava over 20 miles away. Some of the lava tubes that molten lava oozed through still remain and one f them houses the Bandera Volcano Ice Cave

What Is An Ice Cave?

The perpetual Ice Cave is a natural phenomenon made possible by a combination of physical factors forming a natural ice box; a 20 foot thick mass of ice accumulating in a well insulated cave of porous lava with an opening shaped just right to trap cold air, continually generating new ice as rain water and snow melt seep down to its floor and freeze. - icecaves.com

Even in the super hot, almost baking heat of summer; the interior of the cave never gets above 32 degrees. The deepest ice in the cave dates back to 1100 BC. B freakin' C.

The Bandera Volcano

The Bandera Volcano is what created the ice cave when it erupted around 10,000 years ago.

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The all out assault of magma tore out the southern breach draining into the valley below with a 23 mile river of fire and flood of molten lava, forming the collapsed lava tube that you can marvel at inside the Ice Cave. - icecaves.com

Can You Visit The Bandera Volcano And Ice Cave?

Yep. They're only open March 1st - November 1st. Admission for visitors 13 and over is $14.00. Kids 6-12, pay $7.00 and kids 5 and under are free.  Senior citizens, military and Triple A members get a $1 discount.

For more info, click here or you can call either (888) 423-2283 or (505) 783-4303.