Right before this photo was taken we were joking about accidentally driving in to the secret science lab. Then, all of a sudden, we were at the security gates of the secret science lab. We had to do a big U-turn and found a way around. We were cracking up!

There were other science buildings around.

These deer were just standing by the road, even after we stopped until, of course, we took out the camera, then they bolted.

Valle Grande: About one million years ago, the magnificent valley before you was formed by collapse, after a series of tremendous volcanic eruptions ejected a volume of material more than 500 times greater than the May 1980 eruptions of Mt. St. Helens. This event climaxed more than 13 million years of volcanism in the Jemez Mountains. Minor volumes of magma, leaking to the surface as recently as 50,000 years ago, formed the dome-like hills between you and the skyline to the North, which is the opposite wall of the enormous Valles Caldera. The heat from young volcanism makes this area attractive for geothermal activity.

It rained REALLY hard while we were there. You can see the dome-like hills and the walls of the caldera.

The opposite side of the caldera. It was enormous.

It stopped raining enough to get a few pictures outside.

A diagram of the Caldera.

As we went up the mountain the rain stopped and it got really sunny and pretty.