El Morro National Monument: Walk through more than 400 years of history

El Morro National Monument is located in the high desert of western New Mexico. A major highlight for visitors to the park is hiking the short but unforgettable Inscription Rock Trail. I know it certainly was during our visit!  The dramatic sandstone cliffs beyond the Visitor Center have centuries of stories etched into the walls.

A National Monument to Time

El Morro, meaning “The Headland” in Spanish, has been a landmark for hundreds of years. Rising 200 feet above the valley floor, this sandstone bluff has served as a waypoint for ancestral Puebloans, Spanish conquistadors, and American pioneers. A year-round waterhole at its base makes it a natural oasis, making it a crucial stop on historic trade and migration routes. 

Hundreds of years after the Ancestral Puebloans left the area, the Spanish arrived in 1583. Antonio de Espejo’s journal from that year named the place El Estanque del Penol or the Pool by the Great Rocks. 

Two hundred sixty years after Espejo’s visit, a survey unit from the United States Army visited the area, marking a new route west. This began the next wave of visitors as part of America’s westward migration. 

Each group left small bits of history inscribed in the stone.  This is how its most famous feature, Inscription Rock, which contains over 2,000 carvings—petroglyphs, signatures, and messages got its name.

Hiking the Inscription Rock Trail

We visited El Morro National Monument on a hot spring morning. We pulled into the parking lot just after 9 a.m., and it was already over 90 degrees. Despite the heat, my wife and I were set on hiking Inscription Rock Trail, a gentle 0.75-mile loop that offers an intimate look at the monument’s famous carvings. 

The trail hugs the bluff’s base, where you’ll spot names carved by Spanish explorers in the late 1500s to 1600s and American soldiers and settlers in the 1800s, all layered alongside ancient Native American petroglyphs.

Interpretive signs along the way provide context, making the walk both educational and deeply immersive. It’s a rare experience to read firsthand words from centuries past while standing in the very place they were written.

We went into the visitor center to fill up some water bottles. A friendly park ranger told us about a guide for the trail you can check out, which we did, of course.  

Inspecting the Inscriptions 

Miss A.F. Bailey

One of the first places we stopped was the name of Miss. A.F. Bailey.  Both men and women passed by El Morro, but relatively few women left inscriptions. Miss Bailey was an exception. She and her sister were part of a wagon party headed from Missouri to California in 1858 that passed by El Morro.  

Just east of the Colorado River, 800 Mojave Indians attacked 60 Anglo settlers. The Bailey sisters escaped with their lives, but not all were so lucky.  After retreating to wait out winter, they would ultimately make it through and settle in Fresno County, California. 

Their story is still on the wall at El Morro. 

Petroglyphs

The next stop was nearby and featured dozens of Native American Petroglyphs. Handprints and a few of what I believe to be lizards were particularly prevalent. 

“Peachy” Gilmer Breckenridge 

We came to P. Gilmer Breckinridge, 1859, next along the trail. “Peachy” Gilmer Breckenridge was a member of the “Camel Corps” that passed by El Morro in 1857 and 1859. In the mid-19th century, the U.S. Army experimented with using camels as pack animals in the Southwest.

After his work with the Camel Corps, Breckenridge returned to his native Virginia, where he would join the Confederate Army.  He was killed during a skirmish at Kennon’s Landing, Virginia, in 1863.

Spanish Inscribers

Many Spanish inscribers wrote paso por aqui or “passed through here.” Out next stop was ane example of this. In 1709 Ramon Garcia Jurado chiseled “A 25 del mes de Junyo, Ano de 1709 paso por aqui para Suni – Ramon Gacia Jurado.” This means, “On the 25th of the Month of June, of this year of 1709, Ramon Garcia Jurado passed through here on the way to Zuni.”

He was likely on a Spanish military campaign against the Navajos when he visited El Morro. 

The last Spanish inscription is nearby and visible. It reads, “Pedro Romero passed through here on the 2nd of August, year of 1751.”

Bighorn Sheep and Old Spanish Inscription 

We soon came to a group of well-preserved bighorn sheep petroglyphs. Above the petroglyphs is a Spanish inscription from 1643.  It translates to “We, Sergeant Major and Captain Juan de Arechuleta and Adjutant Diego Martin Marba and Ensign Agustin de Ynojos, passed by here in the year of 1643.”

Arechuleta was not an enlisted man. He was an officer in command of troops.  He was among the first colonists to come to New Mexico with Don Juan de Onate in 1598.  Arechuleta and Martin Barba would later be implicated in a plot to assassinate the colonial governor. They were beheaded on Santa Fe’s plaza in 1643. 

One of the Oldest

Next was one of the oldest and most famous inscriptions. It is of the first governor of New Mexico, Don Juan de Onate, etched in 1605, 15 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. It reads “Paso por aq [u] i el adelantado Don Ju [an] de Onate del descubrimyento de la mar del sur a 16 de Abril de 1605.” This translates to “Governor Don Juan de Onate passed through here, from the discovery of the Sea of the South on the 16th of April, 1605.”

R.H. Orton

R.H. Orton served as a Captain in the Union Army’s California Column during the Civil War. He likely made his mark in 1866 on his way back to California after the war had ended. 

General Don Diego de Vargas

Next, we came to a Spanish inscription from General Don Diego de Vargas, a Governor of New Mexico. In 1680, the Pueblo Indians revolted against their Spanish conquerors.  Many Spanish households fled to El Paso.  In 1692, then the newly appointed Governor of New Mexico set out to reestablish Spanish control of the Pueblo Indians. 

The translation of the inscription reads, “General Don Diego de Vargas, who conquered for our Holy Faith and for the Royal Crown, all of New Mexico, at his own expense, was here, in the year of 1692.”

150 years later, three men added their inscriptions just below General Don Diego de Vargas’s signature. P.H., Williamson, Isaac Holland, and John Udell were members of the first emigrant train to try a new route to California in 1858. 

There are a few more stops marked along the self-guided trail guide. What this article highlights is just a fraction of the inscriptions we saw. I really can’t recommend visiting El Morro National Monument enough. This park is more than just a stop on the map—it’s a quiet, powerful place where you get to walk through centuries of history and learn the stories of those who walked the trails before you. 

Tips for Success

• Bring plenty of water—This place gets hot!
  
• Visit early or late in the day for the best lighting on the inscriptions.
  
• Don’t forget your camera—this trail is full of photos you will want!
• Respect the carvings: touching or tracing them can cause damage.