EL MORRO
Situated
about thirty miles south of Gallup and fifteen or twenty miles east of
Zuni, El Morro is the most unknown of all fascinating places that I have
been to. No one that I know had ever heard of it, which is very surprising.
These are the limestone walls of El Morro. At the base are inscriptions
carved into the rock by travelers
since
the 1600's. Many were left by Spanish Conquistadores. Some are very ornate,
some are obviously
carved
by soldiers in a hurry, or too tired to give much care to their efforts.
Even the Anasazi left their marks here; eloquent in their simplicity, the
simple outline of hand, or the likeness of an animal.
Below
is an inscription from the year 1709.
There is a trail that leads you up to the top of El Morro. I was astonished
to discover that it was hollow inside.
And on top of these natural fortress walls were ruins of an Anasazi village.
Not as large as the one at
Bandolier,
but pretty big. My first thought was to wonder how water was brought up
from below, but I found large hollowed out areas in the rock where rain
water could collect. There were also hand and
foot
holes cut into the rock where they could scale the walls. It must have
been a tough life. But the view was terrific.
These are the largest of the ruins on top of El Morro.
All text and photographs
1997,
Randal P. Dean
E-mail me at
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