Monday, October 3, 2016

9-26-2016 El Morro National Monument

Today we drove southeast of Gallup to El Morro National Monument, also known as “inscription rock” for the “graffiti” carved into the sandstone by American pioneers, Spanish conquistadors, and ancestral Puebloan Indians who stopped here.   A spring at the base of this sandstone bluff made it a popular campsite for hundreds of years.  

We visited El Morro in 2013 and took many photos of the inscriptions.  On this trip our friend from Gallup convinced us we should hike the trail up some switchbacks to the top of the 250-foot-tall bluff and across the top to the other end.






We followed trail markers like this.


There is a canyon in the interior of the bluff.







 
At the far end of the bluff top is a small excavated portion of a pueblo that once contained 800 rooms.  It was a town, known today as Atsinna, the home of ancestors of the Zuni people.



A New Mexico sunset.






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Location: El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

2 comments:

  1. JaneOctober 3, 2016 at 6:40 PM

    I'm very impressed that you got up to the top of that bluff. It looks steep, and I have a hard time imagining switchbacks that would get you up there. Also, the top doesn't look exactly flat and easy to walk on. In short, you guys are doing some extreme venturesome thing--as you should be, so we can enjoy these spectacular photos.

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  2. Jim and AnneOctober 3, 2016 at 10:57 PM

    There wasn't a flat spot anywhere at the top of El Morro; and when it rains, the rock surfaces become slippery. It's amazing anyone could live up there, let alone build and maintain an entire village.

    We are indeed doing an "extreme venturesome thing." We'll let everyone know when our GoFundMe account is opened so you can contribute to our antics--from each according to his ability to each according to his need.

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