Grants, Quemado, Pie Town, Magdalena loop

The photo is of the Ventana arch on the route through the Malpais south of Grants. The trail to the base of the arch only gives you a straight-on view, so in the first photo I took, the arch blended into the cliff behind and it wasn't easy to differentiate it. Then, this lucky shaft of life on the cliff and I got this shot!

I did this loop trip: West to Grants, South to Quemado, East through Magdalena to Socorro (past the VLA; Very Large Array, which draws more attention than the PBA; the Pretty Big Array), North back to Alb. this last weekend on the motorcycle. Fabulous, little traveled loop. But I want to go back and do a couple of things on this route.

Near this arch is the trailhead for the Acoma-Zuni trail. It is seven miles across the lava flows and the path is thought to be a thousand years old. The rock cairns marking the trail were placed before the Europeans arrived.

In Pie Town, on this route, is the Stella Vista lodge, which has a very powerful telescope and an on-call astronomer. Out on the plains away from city lights, this would be an excellent place to view the universe!