Today we explored the remote regions of New Mexico around Quemado. We had a great time at some Mogollon pit house dwellings, checking out some areas I plan to hunt deer this fall, saw the amazing Zuni Salt Lake and had pie in Pie Town. Quite the day.
Kelly’s thoughts…
Our first stop was southwest of El Malpais at a pit-house site I learned about. It is along a low ridge with a beautiful view out across some open country. Along the top are a series of stone-lined pits that formed the bases of the houses which would have been covered with beams attached to posts and adobe. The area below the houses had an incredible amount of pot shards of many colors and designs and flakes of flint and chert. They must have been making a lot of pottery! Or maybe they just had butterfingers and broke a lot of pots.
Just beyond this area is Tom’s Rock, a big outcrop of stone. We didn’t cross the fence to go over to it, but we got pretty close. The cows thought we had food for them… must be habituated to a pickup. Sorry to disappoint them!
So, then we headed down to the metropolis of Quemado. An oasis in the desert, Quemado means “burned” in Spanish. This was a trading and postal stop back in the day. Now it’s just a central town for ranchers. And, of course, there’s the Lightning Field nearby (look it up).
After this we explored some of the area I hope to hunt mule deer this fall southwest of Quemado. Looks like probably not a lot of deer, but hey, hopefully I can get into some. It’s incredible, remote, empty country. I look forward to spending some time there this fall.
In the central part of my hunting unit is an unusual feature… the Zuni Salt Lake. This salt lake is in a maar, a crater formed as magma explodes when meeting with large amounts of groundwater, a phreatomagmatic explosion. This site formed only about 6000-10,000 years ago. Ancient peoples have collected salt here for years. Such a cool site!!
Our trip took us back to Quemado, then to Pie Town. This remote town is a curious place with a history of serving pie to visitors, including cowboys and drovers over a long time. The area around Pie Town is absolutely beautiful.
The road took us through the Plains of San Augustine and the Very Large Array to Socorro and north to home. We had an amazing loop and a wonderful day exploring together.
Riki’s thoughts…
I had a wonderful time on our adventure today!! I loved looking at all the lovely potsherds scattered over the ground! Some were beautifully impressed on the outside with a smooth black glaze inside. Others were glazed inside and out with white and red glaze and decorated with intricate black designs. Some were quite large, over 4 square inches! My favorite pieces to find were rim fragments. I also loved the churt pieces, again due to the amazing variety of colors, some were lovely when held up to the light.
Image gallery.
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