
Just east of the Zuni Pueblo lay the pocket-sized Nat’l Park of El Morro. Slang for “The Nose”, it was a flag for countless travelers along the old Spanish Road, and bears the inscriptions of many famed explorers. We boondocked for a few days at their free campground, and explored both the park and the little town down the road called “El Morroville”, which hosted both a star party and a Native American film festival.
After peeling out of PEFO, we headed east down the byways into New Mexico, passing through the town of Zuni where Rebecca picked up some incredible, and incredibly cheap, hand-worked earrings. It wasn’t much further down the road that we found the park. Mountain heather abounded around our campsite. Again, we found ourselves alone in the meticulous campground.
At the base of the cliff lay Inscription Rock. A vertical sandstone chalkboard, conquistadors of old had pecked their names and missions in the face, often in flowing cursive that showed they must have stayed a while. Juan de Onate’s signature from 1605 lies next to 1000 year old Zuni petroglyphs. More modern travelers from the American westward expansion also left their marks, including the name of a 12 year old girl who later lost her life to an Indian attack.