The bonus today was that the shortest way included the crooked piece of RT 191 that is about 80 miles long and really high and really crooked and devoid of guardrails.
We left the campground and Deb got everything cleared up with the Ranger who was emptying the pay box. Some sites are reservable and some are first come first serve. It turns out if we had not reserved, there were a couple nice sites that were empty when we walked the park last night, so we would have had a good chance at getting a site without the reservation.
We got back on I-40 and headed east a few exits and then took Rt 117 south. We stopped at the El Malpais BLM office and chatted with the ranger there. There was nobody there but us and we agreed that there were probably days when the ranger saw nobody. El Malpais is a huge area filled with cooled lava. Much like Craters of the Moon if you have ever been there. It looked like pretty rough hiking over the lava mounds so we continued on our way, turned on Rt 36 to Quemado where we take Rt 60 west. We saw a couple side roads to Pie Town but one was gravel for 25 miles and the other did not even show up on the map. So we could have gone 50 miles out of our way for pie, but decided to save it for another day.
Rt 60 took us into Springerville which we have been to before and stopped for nd early lunch at Booga Red’s Restaurant. Very slow service but the food was good.
From Springerville we took good old Rt 191 all the way to I-10. It is one twisty windy road but lots of great vistas and lots of dirt side roads with trail heads and camping spots. This might be a good place to come back to to camp and hike.
From here home is robotic since we have been this route many times and just wanted to get home before dark. It was 108 degrees in Stafford when we stopped to get a few groceries.
We got home just before 7pm and did the old “dump everything in the driveway” routine. Unpacked everything and quick supper, showers, then bed
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