Marley Makes 3: Datil Well, NM to Show Low, AZ 10.27.23

We pulled out of Datil Well early at 8:15. The next town was called Pie Town. We had read about this place and were determined to stop for a good piece of pie and coffee for breakfast. Bummer, they didn't open until 10:00. There really wasn't much else there to make us wait. so one we went...

We crossed over the Continental Divide at 7700 feet in elevation. These roads we called "Saturday Roads" because they were so bad I though for sure the screws were all coming loose!

We drove through the Red Hill Volcanic Field also known as Quemado Volcanic Field. Red Hill is a cinder cone volcano which is filled with pumice and lava rock.

We also went through the Springerville Volcanic field that consists of 405 vents covering 1200 square miles and is the third largest field in the United States. In Springerville we found a museum that is in an old school building. Al went in to grab a few pamphlets of things to do and came back an hour later and had an armload of pamphlets,, maps and other booklets, as well as several photos.

Casa Malpais (above) is an ancient pueblo from the Mogollon Culture which was built and occupied between 1250 and 1340 AD. The site contains a Great Kiva, solar calendar, 50-60 room pueblo remains, and an ancient staircase that, when ascended, takes you up on the rim of a shield volcano that created the lava flow the site is located on. Labeled the 'fissure pueblo' by Frank Hamilton Cushing in 1883, it has numerous means of tracking the sun, and is truly a remarkable site for its time. The site became a National Historic Landmark in 1964. https://springervilleaz.gov/casamalpais/

On to Show Low, AZ. Show Low is in Sitgreaves National Forest. We arrived at Fool Hollow Recreation Area in Show Low, AZ. In 1885, Thomas Jefferson Adair moved into the area with the intention of farming. The locals joked that only a fool would try and farm the place. The name stuck! The tiny town of Adair has long since been covered by the lake, but it was Adair who was responsible for the name Fool Hollow.

When we got to Show Low we discovered that the tortilla chip bags I had in a tote had blown up so much that it blew the top off the tote!