El Morro National Monument

El Morro means the headlands. The land gradually rises from the south to the north until the small mesa ends abruptly in a giant sandstone bluff. Beneath the bluff is a pool of water from the outfall of rain and snow from the mesa above. That pool has brought people to the bluff and mesa for thousands of years.

There is a visitor center below the bluff and a hiking trail that takes you up to the mesa, across the top and around the front of the sandstone cliffs.

As the trail rises near the base of the cliff…

you walk through rough darkened areas. This is the biological soil crust and you are asked to stay on the trail and not damage it. The crust is composed of microscopic Cyanobacteria, algae, bryophytes and lichen. It helps to stabilize the soil and prevent run-off of the 16 inches of rain and snowmelt the area gets per year.

There are three sets of stairs that take you fairly quickly up…

until you are walking on top of the mesa.

A short walk brings you to a pueblo that has been partially excavated.

Past the round kiva you can see the outline of the pueblo. Ground radar shows it has 118 rooms around the central plaza.

From there it’s a rather dramatic walk across the top of the headlands.

The etched outline and carved steps of the trail were made by the WPA in the 1930’s.

In the center of the mesa is a box canyon. The trail leads along the east and north sides of it.

It’s fun to walk along, with beautiful views all around.

This is looking back across the box canyon towards the ruins.

And this view is north from the front of the headlands.

This tree was growing at an angle up the side of the rocks.

For some reason this pinnacle of rock stands free in the box canyon.

The trail then leads down to the base of the bluff through a series of switchbacks.

Here the views are just as dramatic.

You can look up and see the railings where you stood at the top.

Erosion continues to carve these rocks.

The trail takes you closer…

and closer…

to the base where the sheer size of the rock walls is overwhelming.

This area is called “Inscription Rock”. There are some ancient petroglyphs and many inscriptions by Europeans that are dated; the earliest is from 1605.

Finally you come to the pool of water at the bottom of the outflow, the reason for all the human activity.

El Morro National Monument is a beautiful and fascinating place to visit.