el morro national monument

Our group had a great time hiking the easy trails around the property. The views were fantastic and made more interesting by the loaner guidebooks. This is a mist see sight when passing by.

Rushing through the Southwest on interstates can easily cause a visitor to miss the unusual and unique. Such a site is El Morro, the site of water in a parched land and the location of a white cliff that bears the inscribed names of visitors from the time of the Spanish explorers to the immigrants moving west. Hiking trails are excellent and afford visitors the opportunity to get close enough for some wonderful pictures. This will be one of the first places to tell others about upon your return home.

We live in Albuquerque, NM and have visited El Morro National Monument on 2 occasions. We have walked the Inscription Trail at the base of the rock (1/2 the total trail) and have walked up the rock to view/visit the pueblo ruins at the top. Both walks/hikes were easy enough for my 8yo and 5yo to complete. However, hiking in the altitude will leave some people breathless! The views are incredible, as is the history that is etched in the rock. The Visitors Center has a small exhibit area on the history of the visitors to the rock, and their place in history. There is also a video that can be viewed. There are books and souvenirs for sale as well.Our child participate in the Junior Ranger program through the National Park Service and were able to complete a workbook an earn a badge at El Morro National Monument.

Took our kids to see the Inscription Rock- interesting history of the water pool and ancient Indian pueblos found high on top of the rocks. Short hike around the base of the rock to read beautifully carved names and writings. Free visit. Self guided tours with booklet to describe what you see.

As we travel the Southwest, we've found it's always worth the effort to get off the Interstate freeways. This side trip to El Morro National Monument reinforced our thought and was well worth the miles. We first entered the Visitor Center where we were welcomed by the Rangers. They answered all our questions and were very friendly (and patient). We watched their beautiful movie "Paso Por Aqui", borrowed a laminated trip guide then walked the one-half mile loop past the pool and the inscriptions. The trail was nicely laid out and paved so it was easy to walk which allowed us to concentrate on the inscriptions. The rail fence allowed us to get within good photography range (although a medium 200mm telephoto lens would be helpful) while keeping visitors away from the soft rock. We were fascinated with inscriptions as far back as 1605 - fifteen years before the Pilgrims landed! It began to snow which kept us from hiking to the ruins on top of the mesa. If you're near here, you'll be happy you stopped.

it's a bit out of the way, but we made time to take the trip to El Morro National Monument on our way to Sante Fe. We hiked up to see the ancient ruins on the top of the bluffs. They were amazing and the view spectacular! It's a bit of a climb, but good exercise after being in the car for hours. Another path takes you by the pool of water at the base of the cliff which is fed by a spring and was historically a resting point for many travelers. The walls of the large rock formations are inscribed with ancient petroglyphs and more recently (1849), those of other long distance travelers.Interesting and beautiful are the words I would use to describe El Morro.

In Indian Reservation and Badlands country is El Morro National Monument. It is a small mountain with a spring and ancient petroglyphs, graffiti from Spanish colonial travelers, and 19th Century US Army soldiers. After checking in at the visitor center and getting a loaned trail guide, there is a 2-mile hike past the spring and graffiti, and around and up to the top where there are spectacular views of the canyon below and the surrounding countryside. Also nearby is El Malpais National Monument & National Conservation Area. Malpais has a ranger station with exhibits and trail on the east side and a visitor information center on the west with access to Continental Divide trail, before El Morro.

This National Monument is well worth the small detour from I-40. There are a lot of things to see and hear in a wonderful place like this. The short, mildly strenuous, hiking loop to the top takes you past inscription wall, water run-off pool, outstanding views of the fascinating landscape, natural rock formations, ancient pueblo ruins and near-by camping sites. What more could you ask for in a family friendly outdoor adventure. Oh Yeah, it is FREE. There is no charge for visiting this beautiful park. OUTSTANDING!

The views are impressive and as you go up you can see old inscriptions on the walls, huge rocks with strange apeearance, big walls with different colours in layers. The hike is not too difficult, but I suggest good walking shoes/boots

Stop here! Even if you're miles away and just want to get to Santa Fe or somewhere else. This jaunt off the I40 is so worth it. The inscriptions on the rock are fascinating - I know it's really grafitti, but come on, some of it is 400 years old! And the walk up to the top - somewhat of a climb, but worth every sweaty, gasping minute. The views from up there are inspiring. I could have spent hours just soaking up the views. The partially excavated ruins on top of El Morro just make a person really wonder about the people who built it - why in such an inaccessible place? But oh so fascinating for those of us today.Staff are friendly and helpful, they provide a laminated guide for the inscription walk trail. There's also a small museum with some interesting artifacts.Well worth every minute of the out-of-the-way drive!

Has a great 1/2 mile handicap accessible trail, for the more adventurous you can continue on up and over the mountain.

This National Monument protects Inscription Rock, a place where travelers since the 1600s have written their names and carved messages while traveling by. There is a short paved trail that leads along the bluff wall where you can see the pond, the petroglyphs, and the inscriptions. The museum has some nice displays about the groups of people who passed through here, and why. I didn't get a chance to walk on top of the bluff and see the pueblo ruins due to a thunderstorm that was rolling in. Overall, this is a nice place to visit.

What makes this spot so special is WATER! A little water hole that old civilizations, explores, soldiers, pioneers all have used and rested here, and left their own type of graffiti on the sandstone walls there. That's on the 1/2 mile hike. But if you have time , the 2 hour hike has amazing views and a unique trail on the top of El Morro. We are casual retired hikers and did fine here. The remains of two pueblos are at the top as well. We will be back!

We had only decided to call in here on the way to another attraction but enjoyed this one the most!It didn't sound that enticing but the attendant in the visitor centre made it sound interesting and he was absolutely right.You are given a guide to help you navigate and tell you about the various petroglyphs and some would have been missed without it.We arrived quite early and did have the area to ourselves so this made it even more enjoyable.All told, a very nice place to stop for a visit and it was nice to try and imagine how it was back in the day with all the travellers passing through.And by the way, there was no fee!! We did leave a donation and it felt so much better to be able to do this rather than be forced to pay.

We went to El Morro for the Camel Corps. My children loved the camels and the kids activities were great. Participated in 2 lectures with NPS staff and volunteers. Would highly recommend as a family activity, especially the weekend with the camels. They were beautiful gentle animals and we all learned much about them. My kids loved standing and petting that soft fur. I think the camels liked it too! Dinner at Ancient Way Café just down the way was really good and a surprising treat.