El morro national monument, new mexico

El Morro National Monument is located in Ramah, New Mexico. If you are traveling from Grants on NM Highway 53 the distance is 42 miles southwest. When traveling from Gallup you should drive NM Highway 602 then turn left on NM Highway 53 at a distance of 56 miles. There is no transportation to El Morro from either Grants or Gallup for the public. The monument is open during the year with the exceptions of December 25 and January l. The Visitors Center summer hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The trails are open from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. During the winter months the Visitors Center hours are from 9:00 to 5:00 p.m. The trails are open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. During the winter months due to ice forming on the trails on the mesa you may not be allowed to climb to the top of the mesa. There is a short videotape of approximately l5 minutes that will guide you through the park. During the summer months there will be local artists selling their arts and craft once per month.

As you approach the El Morro National Monument along the highway you will see the beautiful mesa from a distance and enjoy the area scenery. I would certainly suggest making the trip to El Morro in any season except winter. During the winter months there would be the chance of snow and blowing winds and you would not be able to walk through the trails. Even a visit to just the Visitors Center would be very interesting as there is a Museum inside and videos of El Morro. The Museum shows over 700 years of human occupancy at El Morro. There are restroom facilities and drinking water is provided in the Visitor's Center for all.

El Morro became a National Monument in 1906. This Monument was designated as a means of preserving Inscription Rock on the old Acoma-Zuni trail. This rock consists of roughly 12 acres, has a triangular base that rounds to a thin edge on the east end. The soft layer of the rock is protected by a top stratum that is hard that also preserves the outlines of this Inscription Rock.

During past centuries with crude writing instruments Spaniards and many others carved on this rock so that history would be preserved to show they had passed through the area. Governor Onate, the first colonizer of New Mexico has the oldest inscription on the rock. "Passed by here, the Adelantado Don Juan de Onate, from the discovery of the Sea of the South, the 16th day of April, 1605." There were many western explorers that passed through the area and left their inscriptions. Prehistoric Indians also carved on the sandstone rock. These prehistoric Indians lived on top of the rock on the mesa. The most famous of all the carvings was that of Adelantado Don Juan de Onate. His carving said, "Pasamos por aqui". This saying means, "We Passed this Way." He wrote this inscription even before America signed the Declaration of Independence and even before the first landing at Plymouth Rock in America.

At the base of the Inscription Rock there is a natural spring. This spring lured Spanish explorers, missionaries and many travelers to the area as there was a necessity for water. There are small holes by the Inscription Rock that were used by the Prehistoric Indians living on the mesa to climb down from the mesa to obtain their water. As many different people came through the area, they would stop and enjoy the clear, cold water and pause to read messages left by others who had previously passed by the area.

There were a number of Spanish Governors who came to the area after General Don Diego de Vargas and they took the time to leave their names and inscriptions. New Mexico was reigned by the Spanish for 200 years. In 1680 there was a Pueblo Rebellion that drove away the Spanish but they were able to regain control twelve years later. On the Inscription Rock a victory at the leaership of General Don Diego de Vargas was recorded in 1692 as, "Here was the General Don

Diego de Vargas, who conquered for our Holy faith and for the Royal crown all of New Mexico at his own expense, year of 1692." The last date was 1773 of Spanish inscriptions as the Spanish lost their hold on territories in North American to Mexico. Mexico then lost the control of North American Territories to the United States during the Mexican-American War of the l840's. In 1849 Lt. Simpson of the United States Army was the first to sign his signature on the Inscription Rock

When you walk on the top of the mesa there will be pueblo ruins as there were two pueblos at one time that hopefully at some time in the future will be excavated and restored. The Zuni Indians say that they are the remains of the earlier Zunis. There is a canyon on top of the mesa that is deep and through excavation a spring has been discovered. When water collects on top of the mesa it runs into a basin on the south side forming a reservoir that has been there for hundreds of years.

The pueblo from the l3th century has remains still on top of the mesa. The name of the villages was Atsinna with occupiation by the Anasazi ancestors of the Zuni Indians. It is thought the Indians who formed the pueblos on top of the mesa wanted a safe place for their defense and settled there due to the spring so they could have plentiful water. During this century there was a drought that brought upon famine. Some the Anasazi ancestors of the Zuni Indians abandoned these pueblos after the drought and famine ended it seems they just moved back to the floor or the desert. There is a rectangular kiva among the ruins and some rooms are still standing. In 1849 Lt. Simpson of the United States Army was the first to sign his signature on the Inscription Rock

El Morro National Monument is a very educational and interesting place to visit plus the area surrounding the monument is very beautiful. No one is allowed to carve on the rock since it became a monument so just take the time to enjoy and not harm, leaving the beauty of this Monument for others.