In the morning we looked around at the beautiful scenery and set off to hike the area. This is a very interesting place with much history. It sits on a main east-west  trail dating from antiquity. At its center raises  a great sandstone promontory with a pool of water at its base.

Over the centuries those who traveled this trail stopped to camp at the shaded oasis beneath these cliffs. They left the recorded evidence of their passage — symbols, names, dates, and fragments of their stories that register the cultures and history intermingled on the rock. The Zuni Indians, whose Puebloan ancestors lived here, call it Atsinna — “place of writings on the rock”. The Spaniards called it El Morro. The rock cropping below is known as “Inscription Rock” and has engravings from the Zuni Pueblos dating from 1275, and name engravings of Spanish Conquistadores (1592-1730), white settlers (1850’s), and American Military officers who were sent to continue the subjugation of Native Americans (1850’s-1860’s).

We hiked over high rocky cliffs and came upon ancient ruins at the top of the mountain.