As a quiet, shaded oasis in a desert path to California, the walls of west-central New Mexico’s El Morro, and this cattail-festooned pool below, gave comfort, rest for the weary, and a medium for graffiti, to many generations of native and European-heritage travelers throughout the pre-automotive era. Since 1906, new markings have been illegal, except of course for the natural kind. Seeps of water from the porous sandstone have deposited minerals along its walls as the water dried, inch by inch over the millennia, the layers at the top being darker and thicker due to more deposition before evaporation.
11 SE Ramah NM (12 Aug 17) Looking W
35.0405, -108.3515Cattails in the Grotto, Minerals on the Walls
As a quiet, shaded oasis in a desert path to California, the walls of west-central New Mexico’s El Morro, and this cattail-festooned pool below, gave comfort, rest for the weary, and a medium for graffiti, to many generations of native and European-heritage travelers throughout the pre-automotive era. Since 1906, new markings have been illegal, except of course for the natural kind. Seeps of water from the porous sandstone have deposited minerals along its walls as the water dried, inch by inch over the millennia, the layers at the top being darker and thicker due to more deposition before evaporation.
11 SE Ramah NM (12 Aug 17) Looking W
35.0405, -108.3515