A superbloom in 2007 gave Amboy’s stark lava field a palette like no other desert landscape

Never underestimate a volcano.
Amboy Crater rises some 250 feet above the desert floor, punctuating the surrounding vista with some hundreds of lesser ancient volcanic cones varying in depth from a few feet to twenty feet. All taken, this mottled volcanic topography radiates away from the central ancient cone anywhere between one to five miles and resembling from the air a vast complex of sand traps strewn across a giant golf course of lava bed fairways.
A paved parking area (see map below) to access Amboy Crater by foot lay about miles due west of the little town of Amboy along historic Route 66. From the parking area, it is an easy one mile hike southwesterly on a well-curated path along natural ground to the base of the ancient volcanic cone. The trail leads around to the west side of the cone, where the eroded remains of the lava outfall of ten thousand years ago provides for an ascent along a well-worn trail some 100 feet vertically to the volcano’s heart above.
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