El Morro National Monument - New Mexico

Here is the towering rock face of El Morro, where since 1540 Spanish explorers left their inscriptions on the walls. As you walk along the trail that hugs these cliffs, you can see hundreds of inscriptions from the Anasazi indians to the Spanish settlers who passed through here. There is a reason why so many passed this way - water...

Here I am standing at a natural pool amidst the dry plains of New Mexico. This water runs down El Morro and forms a pool 12 feet deep and holds 200.000 gallons of water. Snow and rain are the providers here, and at 7,200 ft. above sea level it was a blessing for thirsty travellers.

Here is an inscription from a Lieutenant in 1849.

This inscription is translated "On the 25th of the month of June, of this year 1709, passed by here on the way to Zuni - Ramon Garcia Jurado". Jurado was a mayor of a district in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1728.

Here you can see various petroglyphs from the Anasazi indians - notice on the left the animals carved into the rock. These are very ancient petroglyphs.

And the view from El Morro - the plains of New Mexico stretch out as far as the eye can see.