Amboy Crater

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Amboy Crater

Amboy Crater and Lava Field is an extinct North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
n cinder cone

Cinder cone

According to the , Cinder Cone is the proper name of 1 cinder cone in Canada and 7 cinder cones in the United States:In Canada: Cinder Cone ...
. It lies within a lava

Lava

Lava is molten Rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption. When first expelled from a volcanic vent, it is a liquid at temperatures from 700 ?C to 1,200 ?C ....
field in California

California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
's Mojave Desert

Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert , , locally referred to as the High Desert, occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, and northwestern Arizona, in the United States....
west of the town of Amboy

Amboy, California

Amboy is a nearly empty ghost town in San Bernardino County, California, in California's Mojave Desert roughly 60 miles northeast of Twentynine Palms, California....
on historic U.S. Highway 66

U.S. Route 66

U.S. Route 66 was a highway in the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66, US Highway 66, was established on November 11, 1926....
.

The crater's location is midway between Barstow

Barstow, California

Barstow is a city in San Bernardino County, California, California, United States. The population was 21,119 at the 2000 census.Barstow is a major regional transportation center....
and Needles

Needles, California

Needles is a city located on the western banks of the Colorado River in San Bernardino County, California, California. It is located in Mojave Valley, which straddles the California-Arizona border....
and is about from either of these small cities. Amboy Crater is accessible to tourists via Interstate 40

Interstate 40

Interstate 40 is a major west-east Interstate Highway in the United States. Its western terminus is at Interstate 15 in California in Barstow, California; its eastern terminus is at a concurrency of U.S....
as well as National Trails Highway - Route 66.

This cinder cone type crater is estimated to be around 6,000 years old and was formed in layers of mostly vesicular pahoehoe - possibly in the Holocene

Holocene

The Holocene is a geological Epoch which began approximately 11,700 years ago . According to traditional geological thinking, the Holocene continues to the present....
geological period.

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Encyclopedia

Amboy Crater and Lava Field is an extinct North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
n cinder cone

Cinder cone

According to the , Cinder Cone is the proper name of 1 cinder cone in Canada and 7 cinder cones in the United States:In Canada: Cinder Cone ...
. It lies within a lava

Lava

Lava is molten Rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption. When first expelled from a volcanic vent, it is a liquid at temperatures from 700 ?C to 1,200 ?C ....
field in California

California

Mojave Desert

Amboy, California

Amboy is a nearly empty ghost town in San Bernardino County, California, in California's Mojave Desert roughly 60 miles northeast of Twentynine Palms, California....
on historic U.S. Highway 66

U.S. Route 66

Barstow, California

Barstow is a city in San Bernardino County, California, California, United States. The population was 21,119 at the 2000 census.Barstow is a major regional transportation center....
and Needles

Needles, California

Interstate 40

Holocene

The Holocene is a geological Epoch which began approximately 11,700 years ago . According to traditional geological thinking, the Holocene continues to the present....
geological period. Lava flows as old as Amboy Crater itself blanket the immediate area. The crater is above sea level, about above the surrounding lava fields, and there is a false trail which is not advised for use in reaching the volcano's rim. The Federal Bureau of Land Management

Bureau of Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately 264 million acres or one-eighth of the landmass of the country....
(BLM) recommends using the west trail found at the day use parking area. This unmarked, steep, and rocky hiking trail leads to the top of the cone which made Amboy Crater a popular U.S. Route 66

U.S. Route 66

U.S. Route 66 was a highway in the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66, US Highway 66, was established on November 11, 1926....
tourist stop before the opening of I-40 in the mid 1960s. Other than a stretch of US 66 through New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a U. S. State located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. Inhabited by Native Americans in the United States populations for many centuries, it has also has been part of the Spanish Empire viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S....
, Amboy Crater was the only extinct volcanic area along the entire route and generations of Route 66 travelers from the 1920s through the 1960s could honestly boast that they had climbed a real volcano

Volcano

A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or Crust , which allows hot, molten rock, ash, and gases to escape from below the surface....
.

Amboy Crater and Lava Field were designated a National Natural Landmark

National Natural Landmark

The National Natural Landmark program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the United States' natural history....
in May, 1973. Visits from tourists have increased in recent years after having been forgotten upon the opening of Interstate 40 through the area.

Regular desert precautions apply: watch for snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate legless carnivore reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears....
s and other desert

Désert

?D?sert? is ?milie Simon's debut single, released in October 2002. The song was a huge success both critically and commercially in her homeland....
wildlife, bring abundant drinking water, hat, sunscreen, and sturdy shoes. It is best to avoid visiting Amboy Crater in summer conditions or in windy weather. Educational and organizational groups are advised to contact the BLM before heading out to Amboy Crater (to ensure adequate parking availability). BLM's Needles Field Office telephone number is +1 760 326 7000. Shaded and unshaded picnic

Picnic

In contemporary usage, picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance, and usually in Summer....
tables are available, as are public restrooms

Toilet

A toilet is a plumbing fixture and disposal system primarily intended for the disposal of the excretory system: urine and feces. Additionally, vomit and menstrual waste is sometimes disposed in toilets in western societies....
.

Sources/external links

Edit Addendum: According to the BLM sign at the site, the last eruption could have been as recently as 500 years ago.