El Malpais is a richly diverse volcanic landscape that offers solitude, recreation, and discovery, with cinder cones, lava tube caves, sandstone bluffs, hiking trails, and abundant wildlife in open grasslands and forests. Though some may see a desolate environment, people have been adapting to and living in this extraordinary terrain for generations. Known as the land of fire and ice, it has daily temperatures that swing roughly 30 degrees Fahrenheit from night lows to afternoon highs. Summer is sunny and hot with monsoon rain storms and an average high of 80 degrees Fahrenheit, winter is cool and sunny with potential snow storms and an average high of 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and spring and fall are generally dry with occasional rain and or snow storms.