Original version:
Mon Mar 18 06:28:11 2002
Last update:
Fri Nov 12 15:50:09 2004
(Image copied from http://www.newmexico.org/outdoors/nationalparks.html for faster access)
Select any image below to see a larger version.
From the above Web site: ``The monument is 56 miles (90.3 km) southeast of Gallup via NM 602 and NM 53 and is 42 miles (67.7 km) west of Grants via NM 53. El Morro is a massive mesa-point of sandstone that rises 200 feet (61 m) above the valley floor and was used by the Spanish Conquistadores in the 17th century as a campground.''
El Morro is a big rock that also has a one-million liter natural reservoir, which is unusual in that dry country. There are signatures and inscriptions of early Spanish explorers and American pioneers going back to about 1530, up to about 1870. At that time, the Union Pacific railroad crossed New Mexico, but about 50km north of El Morro, so it lost its significance to travellers.
Shaded relief map with county outlines.
Highway maps (El Morro National Monument is near the left center).
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Start of the trail to 1M liter natural reservoir. |
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Nearing reservoir. |
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Dried bullrushes along reservoir, which ranges from almost empty, to up to 4m deep (the depth when we were there). |
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How the water gets into the reservoir (cliff runoff). |
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Petroglyphs left by early Spanish explorers. |
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Looking up the wall above the reservoir. |
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The face of El Morro. |
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The chilly walkway along the base of El Morro (it was well below freezing, and windy, that day.) |
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Margaret and Lucas along the walkway. |
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More explorer petroglyphs. |
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Lucas. |
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Cliff walls. |
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Lunch at the Visitor Center; sorry, Nina, for the decapitation. |
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More lunch, this time, with heads. |
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Alligator oak. |
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View from part way up the hill walk. The Visitor Center is in the middle of the picture, just to left of center. |
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Nearing the top of El Morro. |
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View from cliff top to the south, with ancient volcano in center. |
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Snow on cliffside to the west. |
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Lucas, Nina, and Lena, on the walk down. |
