The Tank at El Morro Virtual Cache
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There is a $3.00 fee to get into the National Monument. The park is open every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Summer hours are 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., with hours of 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for the rest of the year. This cache is wheelchair accessible with assistance.
Charles Lummis wrote in 1926:
“No other cliff on earth records a tithe as much of romance, adventure, heroism. Certainly all the other rocks in America do not, all together, hold so much of American history. Onate here carved his entry with his dagger two years before an English-speaking person had built a hut anywhere in the New World, and 15 years before Plymouth Rock.”
El Morro, a great sandstone promontory with a pool of water at its base, is located on one of the ancient east-west trails in western New Mexico. The Zuni Indians, whose Anasazi ancestors lived here, call it A’ts’ina – Place of Writings on the Rock. The Spaniards called it El Morro – The Headland. Anglo-Americans called it Inscription Rock. Over the centuries those who traveled this trail stopped to camp at the shaded oasis under the cliffs. They left carved evidence of their passage – symbols, names, dates, and fragments of their stories that register the cultures and history intermingled on the rock.
Your mission for this cache is to find the pool at the base of the cliff, and take your picture with GPSr at this location. Post your picture, and in your log state the depth of the pool at the time of your visit. Please post your picture at the same time as you log your find.
After you visit the pool, continue on the trail to view the petroglyphs and inscriptions. Continue on the trail around the rock and to the top of the mesa to visit the ruins of two Anasazi pueblo sites.
The following is from Mantracker, who works at the site:
"The monument charges $3.00 per adult to hike the trails (16 years old and under are free).
This year the summer hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the trails are closed at 4 p.m. to further entry. Many brochures detail extended hours during the summer but this year the budget shortfall did not allow the monument to hire sufficient staff for the extra hours. Write your Congresssman!"
Thanks Mantracker!
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