Day 2 was one of our busier days with multiple spots we wanted to hit on our drive from Springerville to Alamogordo, NM. My original itinerary had us staying in Holbrook, but I switched it to Springerville when I discovered the Casa Malpaís Archeology Park and booked us a tour first thing in the morning. Unfortunately the tour was canceled due to the weather (quite cold again and some snow flurries, Springerville is at 7,000 feet elevation). We didn't get to do the tour, but we were still able to visit the museum at the Springerville Heritage Center in town. The free museum was a nice surprise; it was bigger than we expected and we ended up spending an hour here. We started with the rooms dedicated to Casa Malpaís and artifacts excavated from the site. From wikipedia:

"Casa Malpaís was built around 1260 and was inhabited until about 1400, meaning that the site dates from the Pueblo III to the Pueblo IV Era. It is one of the latest dated Mogollon sites. The name Casa Malpaís has been misinterpreted to mean House of the Badlands, but the name actually refers to the type of volcanic vesicular basalt rock, or Malapi, which the site is built upon. The Springerville volcanic field contains over 400 volcanoes within a fifty-mile radius of Springerville, making it the third largest volcanic field in the continental United States."

Unique and unusual features characterize the site. The Great Kiva, painstakingly constructed of volcanic rock, is the centerpiece. A steep basalt staircase set into a crevice of the high basalt cliff wall leads to the top of the mesa.

Both the Hopi and Zuni Indian tribes still consider Casa Malpaís a sacred ancestral place.

The site is at an elevation of 7,000 feet and the pueblo is perched atop terraces on front of basalt cliffs. These cliffs were formed from lava flow from an ancient volcano. Around 1240, a 60-room pueblo, solar calendar, and Great Kiva were built by the people. The site was believed to be abandoned by 1350."

After learning about Casa Malpaís we discovered there were additional rooms at the museum about the history of Springerville, the volcanic field, and the White Mountains. I'm not familiar with this part of the state and I liked learning about the Coronado Trail scenic byway and the forests of the White Mountains. Neat little museum!

Springerville is only 14 miles from the border so it wasn't long before we were in New Mexico. We arrived in Pie Town before lunch and stopped at the only place open, The Gatherin' Place. I didn't know the name of this place before we went because there was scant info online. I did find info that Pie-o-neer Pies closed and I was assured in a forum that there was still a place open, just look for the cars. And that was indeed the case. There is no prominent sign - we only noticed the name on an old faded sign we had to squint to make out the name. But they were definitely open and we had a tasty lunch and of course, pie. In addition to the homemade pie, they also make their own bread and my sandwich was delicious. Unfortunately we were there on 3/13 - would have been fun to stop in Pie Town on Pi Day. :)

Pie Town is close to 8000 feet elevation and the weather felt decidedly more winter than spring break. For the rest of the day we would experience a variety of weather - snow flurries, sleet, sunshine, cool clouds, dramatic lighting - it did make for an interesting drive. I also wasn't expecting so many mountains and I enjoyed the views as we continued on our trip. Normally a visit to Pie Town would be combined with a stop at The Very Large Array (VLA), a National Radio Astronomy Observatory site consisting of twenty-seven radio telescopes, but the site was closed to the public due to Covid. We did pull over to see the array from the road and it was mostly obscured by the clouds. Maybe another time we can take the tour - it looks like a really cool place to visit.

Fortunately the weather cleared up by the time we made it to Valley of Fires Recreation Area (a BLM site with a modest $5 fee), The park is located in the Tularosa Basin by the Malpais Lava Flow, which was formed approximately 5,000 years ago when Little Black Peak erupted and flowed 44 miles into the basin. The lava flow covers 125 square miles and is considered one of the youngest lava flows in the continental US. There is a small visitor center and campground on a kipuka, an island in a lava flow. Leaving from this kipuka is a paved, one mile trail through the lava flow. There are information panels along the way with information about the geology, flora and fauna, and human history of the area. Interestingly, animals have adapted their coloration to the lava and the animals found here are dark-skinned or dark-haired. I was surprised at how many plants were growing on the lava flow (including a 400 year old juniper tree) - there were a variety of plants typical of the Chihuahuan desert and we especially noticed the sotol plants.

The Valley of Fires was a great stop to learn about the natural history of the area and this was complemented by a visit to Three Rivers Petroglyph Site to see evidence of human history. Three Rivers Petroglyph Site is another BLM site with a modest fee ($5), which seems like quite the bargain considering how awesome this place is. The site contains over 21,000 petroglyphs dating back to between 900 and 1400 AD that were made by a group of prehistoric Native Americans referred to as the Jornada Mogollon. The petroglyphs were made with stone tools to remove the dark patina on the rocks (patina forms on the rocks through oxidation of the minerals on the rock's surface). The Petroglyph Trail is a one mile trail (one way) that climbs a basaltic ridge. There is a pamphlet that points out some of the more notable petroglyphs, although petroglyphs can be found everywhere (it is like a treasure hunt!). In addition to the petroglyphs, the trail provides a nice vantage point for views in both directions. To the west is the San Andres Mountains with the gypsum dunes of White Sands at their base to the south and the black lava flow to the north. To the east is the Sierra Blanca range (12,000 feet) on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation (Ruidoso Downs is in this direction, a popular destination that we could not fit in this trip). We could've spent a long time here (and the campground looks great for a return visit), but it was incredibly windy and getting late, so we had to keep moving to reach our destination for the night, Alamogordo.