All-Comers Welcome! Dust off your tennies, your car, and your sun screen for a day of fun while we visit our city and state. AHCC C&T will lead the charge and you will follow. These fun-filled trips are free of charge and only require your participation so let’s hit the road to visit those hidden gems in our backyard!
August 28th, 2021 El Morro National Park (Inscription Rock)
A national park in New Mexico, El Morro National Monument is a fascinating mixture of both human and natural history.
Rising 200 feet above the valley floor, this massive sandstone bluff was a welcome landmark for weary travelers. A reliable waterhole hidden at its base made El Morro (or Inscription Rock) a popular campsite. Beginning in the late 1500s Spaniards, and later Americans, passed by El Morro. While they rested in its shade and drank from the pool, many carved their signatures, dates, and messages.
Before the Spanish, petroglyphs were inscribed by Ancestral Puebloans living on top of the bluff over 700 years ago. The softness of the sandstone made it easy to carve pictures, names, dates and messages. Ironically, that is also the reason that the famous inscriptions are slowly disappearing. Today, El Morro National Monument protects over 2,000 inscriptions and petroglyphs, as well as Ancestral Puebloan ruins.
Itinerary – Inscription Rock