El Morro National Monument

After a relatively short drive east from Petrified Wood National Park we arrived at El Morro National Monument. It's a small monument rich in history. Situated along a natural trade route with a reliable source of water, many have visited this site and left inscriptions on the sandstone walls.

The big sandstone outcrop as seen from the campground.

This is the pool which provided the reliable source of water.

It is not a spring, but a plunge pool beneath a pour off.

There are hundreds of inscriptions including those from the early Puebloans, the Spaniards dating back to the 1600s and White men in the mid 1800s.  This spot included glyphs from Puebloans next to elaborate script from the Spanish.

We continued on around the foot of the cliffs.

And up the Mesa Trail to the top of the sandstone. The CCC was enlisted to construct the trail back in the 1930s. Here they engraved grooves in the rock to denote the trail.

Mary peers over the edge.

The CCC cut these amazing steps too. More can be seen upper right.

On top of the mesa are the ruins of the Astinna Pueblo.

An estimated 1,000 to 1,500 people lived here.

Fascinating.

El Morro is a great monument. Well worth a visit.


We spent two nights at the wonderful free camp there too.