Day 7
Friday April 8
Another chilly morning as I packed up the car to leave Grants. This time it was thirty-six degrees. Today was one of those days where there was just a lot of stuff to see and do. But first, another pass down Hwy 117 and through El Malpaise National Monument...
Proof positive cattle guards do work..
On the southern end of the park, right off Hwy 117, there's a 1.1 mile loop trail through the lava field. It seemed the perfect way to start the day. At the trailhead...
This is the area they call the Lava Falls. At one point, one lava flow cascaded over an older one, creating a unique feature. Though it's hard to see in the photo.
This is what they call the Natural Amphitheater. It's a very large area surround by a relatively round wall of lava. Without a wide angle lens, I couldn't do this place justice.
With plenty of cairns to guide the way, I easily found my way back to the car.
Hwy 117 eventually ended at Hwy 36. I could stay on Hwy 36, or cut across south-east on Hwy 603. I considered it, until I started reading about it. First, it's unpaved. I came across some interesting descriptions about the condition of the road and just how few people actually drive it. This was one of those, do I really want to explain this to AVIS moments. So, I went the long way around. If you want to see what what Hwy 603 is like, I did come across a video by a guy driving it. It didn't look too bad. But, there's still the rental car factor.
Hwy 36 ends in the town of Quemado, from the Spanish word for "burned" following a recent wildfire. Immediately after turning into town, sits the Sacred Heart Church. Surprisingly, there's very little on line about its history.
In a large field away from downtown sits a public art display by the late Walter De Maria. At first glance, it’s four hundred polished steel poles, two inches in diameter and twenty feet tall.
In the middle of the display is a small cabin, open for overnight rental. The cabin has room for only six people. Off peak, it will run you $150 per person. During July and August, it goes up to $250. There’s a reason for that.
The art isn’t from rows of metal poles. It’s what they do during an electrical storm. De Maria didn’t name it the Lightning Field without reason. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve always enjoyed watching lightning...from a distance.
After a quiet, late breakfast at the Largo Cafe, it was time to move on.
The apple pies were such a hit, people came just for pie and nicknamed the area Pie Town. The name stuck. And when in Pie Town, one feels the urge to stop in for some pie, and I did.
The Blueberry Butterscotch pie... delicious.
Seen on the drive out of Pie Town...
With eighty miles of driving still to do, I paid my tab and got back on Hwy 60, headed east. About a half hour later, I came to a site I knew I had to visit, the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. Named after the discoverer of radio waves, the site contains twenty-eight radio telescopes measuring eighty-two feet across. They’re set in a “Y” alignment and constantly searching the skies for radio waves from space. I've seen plenty of pictures, and the array has been in its share of movies. It seems much bigger in person.
My home for the night was another fifty miles east, in the town of Socorro. Spanish settlers arrived there in 1598. The local Piro tribe offered the settlers water. The settlers named their community Socorro, from a Spanish word for “help.”
In the center of town sits a large chunk of metal. It was once part of a 214 ton steel container placed close to the first atomic bomb test. If the bomb misfired and started leaking radiation, it’s remnants would have been placed in the container and sealed.
Next to the Arby’s restaurant, you’ll find a UFO made of scrap metal. It’s not just a random sculpture. It’s in tribute to a famous UFO sighting.
In April, 1964, city police Sergeant Lonnie Zamora received a call to investigate a possible UFO sighting in the gully near the Socorro Baptist Temple. He reported witnessing an “egg shaped craft," bluish flame and a loud roar.
After calling for assistance, Sgt. Zamora approached the craft. He noticed landing gear, a strange red insignia on the craft’s side and what looked like two people. When he was about fifty feet away, the craft started to rise with the same blue flame and loud roar. It left behind burned brush and indentations from the landing gear.
It was still early enough in the afternoon. So, I dropped my stuff at the Days Inn and drove south I-25 to Fort Craig. It's a bit of a drive down a dirt and gravel road to get there. On average, they get thirty people visiting per day. The visitor center is pretty small. That's where I met the site's host. This is the first time I remember hearing that term. He actually lives on site in an RV, but works for the Park Service.
This used to be Piro and Apache land. Fort Craig's original purpose was to put an end to their raids on settlers and wagon trains. As the threat of Civil War loomed, the site was expanded. When the Confederate Army invaded southern New Mexico, the fort was up to 2,000 men. When they arrived on the fort's doorstep, the number was up to 3,800.
A force of 2,500 was sent to take the fort. What they saw gave them pause. They didn't know some of canon were fake and simply painted logs. Nor did they know the defenders had set out caps and uniforms to make them look like a larger force.
Instead, the Confederates tried circling the fort and cutting off supplies. The two sides did eventually clash in the neighboring town of Val Verde. In the end, the Confederate Army held the field, but the Union Army had found their supply wagons and destroyed much of them. Unable to press on, they had to retreat back to El Paso.
By now, it was late in the afternoon, so I decided to call it a day. I had asked about the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Preserve. I drove through it to the fort. It just looked like a dry desert to me. However, there are shallow swamps. It makes for a convenient spot for migrating birds, thus the protection. It's also supposed to be pretty spectacular during migrating season.
One words about the Socorro Days Inn. The room was perfectly fine. But, they had no wifi. I walked up the street to a place called Socorro Springs for dinner. They had wifi, but not for the customers. They used it in the office and for the hand held tablets so many paces are using for credit cards. It just seemed a bit strange.
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