Our summer exodus from Colorado is officially underway, and El Morro National Monument is our first real stop on the 1,300 mile journey west to spend time in the Sierra Nevada mountains until October.
We spent a few days at Lake Pueblo State Park after pulling Polly out of the barn to make sure we had everything we needed before hitting the road.
Of course we didn’t have everything, and that’s why we do a shakedown run within a short distance – running back to grab the little things is easy when you’re only 30 minutes away. Not as easy when you’re days away.
Technically our first real stop on the road was a quick stretch at the El Malpais National Monument visitor center to gawk at the lava fields and grab a trifold map for my map wall at home, but we didn’t do any hiking so it doesn’t really count.
El Morro National Monument sits about 43 miles southeast of Gallup in western New Mexico, 120 miles west of Albuquerque.
If you’ve never heard of it, you’re not alone. It’s a 50-mile detour to hop off of I-40 as you’re heading across the country, not something people stumble across.
Years ago we exported the list of all National Parks, National Monuments, National Historical Parks, etc and added them all as a layer in our Go-See-Do master map.
This combines with pushpins from Atlas Obscura, suggestions from other people, and interesting things we come across that we might want to visit someday.
Whenever we’re planning a trip we reference this map and add things to our working map. Some things don’t line up with our route, some aren’t interesting enough, but some of them stick and we adjust our route and timetable to fit them in.
El Morro National Monument is one that stuck, although it took us almost 15 years to get here.
The centerpiece of the monument is a massive sandstone bluff rising 200 feet above the surrounding high desert, but the real reason people have been stopping here for centuries – and I mean centuries, literally – is water.
Tucked into the base of the rock is a natural pool, a reliable collection of rainwater and snowmelt that made this spot an oasis in an otherwise parched landscape.
Ancient Puebloans figured this out first, building a community at the top of the bluff around 1275 AD and farming the area for generations. The Headlands Trail takes you right past the ruins.
Then the Spanish came through.
From 1605 onward, travelers making the brutal overland journey between Mexico City and Santa Fe stopped at the pool, drank their fill, and did what humans apparently cannot resist doing: they carved their names into the rock.
Don Juan de Onate was among the earliest, leaving an inscription that translates to something like “passed by here” in 1605.
Hundreds followed him over the next 250 years.
The Americans picked up right where the Spanish left off. After the Mexican-American War, U.S. Army surveyors, expeditions, and eventually California-bound travelers added their names to the wall in English.
The trail along the base of Inscription Rock is a must-do for everyone – wonderfully well-maintained, paved, fenced, and signed. Make sure to grab a loaner trail guide at the visitor center so you know what you’re looking at.
From the base trail you can continue up the Headlands Trail to the top of the bluff.
The views up top are worth every step – the rock itself is a wild mix of white, yellow, and pink, and the ruins of the ancient Atsinna Pueblo sit right at the edge looking out over the desert like they’ve been watching the road below for 700 years.
El Morro is a great two-hour stop, and a perfect amount of exercise to break up a road trip.
If you’re cutting through western New Mexico on I-40, take the detour and break up your day.
The pool that made ancient peoples stop is still there, still full, and the wall they – and about a thousand others – left their mark on is still standing.
El Morro National Monument
The mandatory sign shot at the entrance to El Morro National Monument
Hidden Pool
This naturally occuring pool tucked into the base of the sandstone walls is why travelers have stopped here throughout the centuries.
Tall Walls
Colette looking up, up, up
Leave Your Mark
Ancient petroglyphs on Inscription Wall
Fancy Pants
Some of the later inscriptions are pretty intricately carved
Here Comes The Cavalry
R.H. Orton, Captain, 1st California Cavalry, 1866
Easy Going
The Incription Rock Trail is amazing quality, paved with fences to keep visitors from touching the rock and accelerating the degradation of the inscriptions
Yet Another NRT
We didn’t even realize we were on a National Recreation Trail when we headed up the Headlands Trail.
Ready To Fall
That rock wall is going to make some serious noise when it finally lets loose. Colette for scale.
Multicolor Badlands
White yellow and pink rock at the top of the bluffs
Rooms With A View
This ancient pueblo at the top of the bluffs really had the best view around.
