Monday, May 15, 2023 (continued)
When we arrived at
El Morro National Monument (1906), we learned the trail to the pueblo ruins was closed. We could still do the Inscription Rock Loop Trail, which we apparently did backwards.
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Inscription Rock was essentially the whole mesa,
(El Morro means the headland) |
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A section with a carved braid frame; the inscriptions
are from three distinct eras and those in English
were done by the early surveyors of the New Mexico
territory acquired in 1848, settlers, and early sightseers |
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Although there have been attempts to preserve
the inscriptions, nature will eventually erode them away;
|
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Another era was when the Spaniards arrived about 1583,
followed by missionaries and others, up to 1774 |
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The Civil Works Administration (1933) constructed the
first visitor trails at El Morro |
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The effect of water in crevices expanding
when frozen resulted in cracks, but they
are monitored and have been stabilized |
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The first era of inscriptions (i.e., petroglyphs) are by the
ancestral Pueblo people, who lived here 1275-1350 CE |
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| The rock formation is made of Zuni sandstone |
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A pool of water is created by rain and
snowmelt runoff |
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| Petrochelidon pyrrhonota/Cliff Swallow nests |
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The bark of a Juniperus deppeana/
Alligator Juniper |
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The fibrous bark of the Juniperus monosperma/
One-seed Juniper (maybe!)
|
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The breed of these dogs are Borzoi,
or Russian Hunting Sighthounds (KSS) |
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| Farewell to El Morro! |
Next: Route 66 in New Mexico continued.
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