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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Editor’s note: The Journal continues “What’s in a Name?,” a twice a month column in which staff writer Elaine Briseño will give a short history of how places in New Mexico got their names.
According to the Navajo mythology, it’s a place “Where Big God’s Blood Coagulated.”
In modern day, El Malpais is a place of mystery, danger and beauty.
At this ice cave, in El Malpais National Monument south of Grants, temperatures stay below freezing all year round. (Amanda Schoenberg/Albuquerque Journal)
It also happens to be a national monument and protected conservation area.