From April 6 through April 8, 2025, the GCAS embarked upon our first overnight field trip in several years. A fine time was had by all 9 participants thanks to field trip coordinators Eduardo Argüello and Torie Grass. Our group enjoyed excursions to the petroglyphs and pueblo site at Lyman Lake State Park as well as a special guided minibus tour from the Casa Malpais Museum in Springerville to the archaeological site of Casa Malpais itself.
Some of our group camped at Lyman Lake while others took it easy in Springerville lodgings. We all got together at Lyman Lake for a morning hike around the Peninsula Petroglyph trail followed by a jaunt out to Rattlesnake Point to view the remains of the 14th-Century pueblo site there. We capped off the day’s activities with happy hour socializing around a quickly improvised potluck in the campground. The food we friends shared was delicious and the weather was ideal.
Hopi oral tradition claims the prehistoric inhabitants of the Lyman Lake/Casa Malpais area as their ancestors. Archaeologists estimate the dates of the earliest petroglyph styles at Lyman Lake as between 6000 BCE to 300 CE (Archaic period) and 300-700 CE (Basketmaker period); but most of the petroglyphs appear to date between 700-1400 CE (successive Pueblo periods).
We gathered in Springerville’s Casa Malpais Museum the following morning to check out their exhibits before heading out to the Casa Malpais site with our driver and guide, Mike. Mike explained that this site was occupied during the 13th Century, to about the year 1260, and was built on top of a basalt lave flow. Our first interesting feature was that the first segment of the staircase-like climb up to the site was along the ancient trail that the original occupants had used. Mike explained the adjacent agricultural terraces and residential features before our group examined the great kiva and solar calendar. Two significant petroglyph panels appear to track solstices and equinoxes with three images resembling rams’ heads.
At about 11:30 our tour dropped us off back at the Casa Malpais Museum. Our group dispersed – some taking a long lunch in Springerville restaurants before seeking out more camping opportunities while others headed directly back home. The GCAS would recommend this trip to anyone. Thank you, Eduardo and Torie, for making it happen for us!
Photos by M.Smith