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Home›Destinations›North America›USA›New Mexico›Northwestern New Mexico›El
Malpais and El Morro National Monuments›Things to See
EL MALPAIS AND EL MORRO NATIONAL MONUMENTS
TRAVEL GUIDE
* Things to Do
* Best Hotels
* Things to See
* Overview
* Best Restaurants
* Planning a Trip
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EL MALPAIS AND EL MORRO NATIONAL MONUMENTS
THINGS TO SEE IN EL MALPAIS AND EL MORRO NATIONAL MONUMENTS
El Malpais
From Sandstone Bluffs Overlook (10 miles south of I-40 off NM 117), many craters
are visible in the lava flow, which extends for miles along the eastern flank of
the Continental Divide. The most recent flows are only 1,000 years old; Native
American legends tell of rivers of "fire rock." Seventeen miles south of I-40 is
La Ventana Natural Arch, the largest accessible natural arch in New Mexico.
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From NM 53, which exits I-40 just west of Grants, visitors have access to the
Zuni-Acoma Trail, an ancient Pueblo trade route that crosses four major lava
flows in a 7 1/2-mile (one-way) hike. A printed trail guide is available. El
Calderon, a forested area 20 miles south of I-40, is a trail head for exploring
a cinder cone, lava tubes, and a bat cave. (Warning: Hikers should not enter the
bat cave or otherwise disturb the bats.)
The largest of all Malpais cinder cones, Bandera Crater is on private property
25 miles south of I-40. The National Park Service has laid plans to absorb this
commercial operation, known as Ice Caves Resort (tel. 888/ICE-CAVE or
505/783-4303; www.icecaves.com). For a fee ($9 for adults and $4 for children
5-12), visitors hike up the crater or walk to the edge of an ice cave. It's open
daily from 8am to 7pm in summer and from 8am to 4pm in winter (generally closing
1 hr. before sunset).
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Greece's iconic monument, the Acropolis is to be bathed in new light
Perhaps the most fascinating phenomenon of El Malpais is the lava tubes, formed
when the outer surface of a lava flow cooled and solidified. When the lava river
drained, tunnel-like caves were left. Ice caves within some of the tubes have
delicate ice-crystal ceilings, ice stalactites, and floors like ice rinks.
El Morro National Monument
Travelers who like to look history straight in the eye are fascinated by
"Inscription Rock," 43 miles west of Grants along NM 53. Looming up out of the
sand and sagebrush is a bluff 200 feet high, holding some of the most
captivating messages in North America. Its sandstone face displays a written
record of the many who inhabited and traveled through this land, beginning with
the ancestral Puebloans, who lived atop the formation around 1200. Carved with
steel points are the signatures and comments of almost every explorer,
conquistador, missionary, army officer, surveyor, and pioneer emigrant who
passed this way between 1605, when Gov. Don Juan de Oñate carved the first
inscription, and 1906, when it was preserved by the National Park Service.
Oñate's inscription, dated April 16, 1605, was perhaps the first graffiti any
European left in America.
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A paved walkway makes it easy to walk to the writings, and a stone stairway
leads up to other treasures. One entry reads: "Year of 1716 on the 26th of
August passed by here Don Feliz Martinez, Governor and Captain General of this
realm to the reduction and conquest of the Moqui." Confident of success as he
was, Martinez actually got nowhere with any "conquest of the Moqui," or Hopi,
peoples. After a 2-month battle, they chased him back to Santa Fe.
Another special group to pass by this way was the U.S. Camel Corps, trekking
past on their way from Texas to California in 1857. The camels worked out fine
in mountains and deserts, outlasting horses and mules 10 to 1, but the Civil War
ended the experiment. When Peachy Breckinridge, fresh out of the Virginia
Military Academy, came by with 25 camels, he noted the fact on the stone here.
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El Morro was at one time as famous as the Blarney Stone of Ireland: Everybody
had to stop by and make a mark. But when the Santa Fe Railroad was laid 25 miles
to the north, El Morro was no longer on the main route to California, and from
the 1870s, the tradition began to die out.
If you like to hike, be sure to take the full loop to the top of Inscription
Rock. It's a spectacular trip that takes you along the rim of this mesa --
offering 360 degree views -- culminating in an up-close look at Anasazi ruins,
which occupy an area 200 by 300 feet. Inscription Rock's name, Atsinna, suggests
that carving one's name here is a very old custom indeed: The word, in Zuni,
means "writing on rock."
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Cibola National Forest
Cíbola National Forest is actually a combination of parcels of land throughout
the state that total more than 1.6 million acres. Elevation varies from 5,000 to
11,301 feet, and the forest includes the Datil, Gallinas, Bear, Manzano, Sandia,
San Mateo, and Zuni mountains.
Two major pieces of the forest flank I-40 on either side of Grants, near the
pueblos and monuments described above. To the northeast of Grants, NM 547 leads
some 20 miles into the San Mateo Mountains. The range's high point, and the
highest point in the forest, 11,301-foot Mount Taylor, is home of the annual
Mount Taylor Winter Quadrathlon in February. The route passes two campgrounds:
Lobo Canyon and Coal Mine Canyon. Hiking and enjoying magnificent scenery are
popular in summer, cross-country skiing in winter.
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Just the Facts -- For more information about this section of Cíbola National
Forest, contact the Mount Taylor Ranger District, 1800 Lobo Canyon Rd., Grants,
NM 87020 (tel. 505/287-8833). For general information about all six districts of
the National Forest, contact Cíbola National Forest, 2113 Osuna Rd. NE, Suite A,
Albuquerque, NM 87113-1001 (tel. 505/346-2650; www.fs.fed.us/r3/cibola).
A modern road stop on I-40 heading west, 17 miles before Gallup, is the Pilot
Travel Center (tel. 505/722-6655). This is my idea of what a space station would
be like. Not only can you get gas here, you also can also fill up at a Subway.
There's also a full restaurant with a salad bar and hot food bar. The center has
plenty of pay phones, clean bathrooms, a post office, and a video arcade.
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Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change
without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with
the companies in question before planning your trip.
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