El Morro National Monument
Imagine the refreshment of finding water after days of dusty travel.
Photo: NPS Photo / NPS
About El Morro National Monument
Imagine the refreshment of finding water after days of dusty travel. A reliable waterhole hidden at the base of a sandstone bluff made El Morro (the headland) a popular campsite for hundreds of years. Here, ancestral Puebloans, Spanish, and American travelers carved over 2,000 signatures, dates, messages, and petroglyphs. Make El Morro National Monument a stopping point on your travels.
Pair it with another park
NMdrive time
AZdrive time
AZdrive time
NMdrive time
NMdrive time
NMdrive time
Driving times from El Morro National Monument, one way, via road — a realistic day is 8–10 hours behind the wheel.
Hours
El Morro National Monument
- Mon
- 9:00AM - 5:00PM
- Tue
- 9:00AM - 5:00PM
- Wed
- 9:00AM - 5:00PM
- Thu
- 9:00AM - 5:00PM
- Fri
- 9:00AM - 5:00PM
- Sat
- 9:00AM - 5:00PM
- Sun
- 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Activities
Getting there
At an elevation of 7,219 feet (2200 meters) winters can be cold and snowy. Summers are warm with afternoon thunder showers from mid-July through mid-September. Trails can close unexpectedly due to severe weather. Average snowfall: 40 inches per year. Average precipitation (snowmelt and rain): 16 inches per year. Warmest month: July, with average highs of 84 degrees and lows of 52 degrees. Coldest months: December and January, with average lows of 14-15 degrees, and average highs of 44-45 degrees.
Frequently asked questions
- What is there to do at El Morro National Monument?
- Popular activities include Arts and Culture, Astronomy, Birdwatching, Bookstore and Park Store, Camping, Car or Front Country Camping.
- Which national parks are within a day's drive of El Morro National Monument?
- Within about a day's drive you can reach El Malpais National Monument (2 h 10 min), Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site (2 h 12 min), Petrified Forest National Park (2 h 19 min), Petroglyph National Monument (2 h 28 min), Chaco Culture National Historical Park (3 h 9 min), El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail (3 h 33 min).