“ The policy of the National Park Service is to keep the parks looking as natural as possible. Since it is natural for dead trees to be in a forest the ones you see in this area will not be cleaned up. When a tree falls in a National Park Service area it will lie where it fell and eventually will decay and supply nourishment for future trees.
4.
Take a break here and look at the valley between the multicolored mesa and the higher parts of the Zuñi Mountains. This valley was formed by water gradually wearing away the softer rocks of the Chinle formation. ”

“ If you look closely at the rock, about 12 feet above the ground, you will see some notches cut into the sandstone. These are footholds. Probably most Indians came to the pool by the long, safe way, but others, caring more for their thirst than their lives, came down from the mesa top through the high notch to the right and above you.
Do not, under any circumstances, try coming down this short way—the rock is extremely slippery. If you go to the top, stay on the marked trail.
2.
Now you see why travelers stopped here. There is no spring ”

“ The tall trees in the vicinity of this stake are ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) . They are readily identified by the needles, which grow two or three to a cluster. These trees grow in well-watered, protected areas within the Monument. The larger ones are somewhere between 200 and 300 years old.
2.
Here you can stop and catch your breath before beginning the steep climb. Look at the top of the mesa, to your right, just below the railing. You can see very clearly two different formations of rock. The lower is the sandstone called Zuñi formation and the higher is the Dakota formation. ”

“ Southwest Parks and Monuments association was founded in 1938 to aid and promote the educational and scientific activities of the National Park Service. As a nonprofit organization authorized by Congress, it makes interpretive material available to park visitors by sale or free distribution. All net proceeds support the interpretive and research programs of the National Park Service. ”

“ KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL
1 El Morro Trails INSCRIPTION ROCK TRAIL
The trail begins directly behind the Monument headquarters, and climbs gradually toward the rock. Just follow the arrows and do not hurry. It is 7,200 feet above sea level here, and the altitude may bother some of you. ”

“ In the desert varnish, the darker colored rock, note particularly a sequence showing hand prints, foot prints and a zig-zag trail going to a hole in the cliff. This could mean, “Follow the hand and foot trail to the pool of water.”
The signature of Mr. Long is the most impressive one on the rock. ”

“ Coal is formed in much the same way, but there is too much inorganic material in this seam to produce coal. This is the coal-like seam mentioned at No. 7. On the 15 very top, the dirt is from the Mancos formation of Cretaceous age, and is composed of marine shales deposited in the ancient sea which covered the area. It was originally much thicker, and is younger than any of the other rocks exposed here.
Immediately ahead and extending to the right for nearly 300 feet is the ruin called Atsinna, a Zuñi word referring to the “writing on rock.” ”

“ They are not the work of prehistoric Indians.
9.
The line, to the left of the post, extending through the rock on both sides of the mesa, is one of the principal causes of the development of the box canyon. After El Morro was buried by several thousand feet of younger rocks, some 60 million years ago, it was subjected to great pressures from the weight of the overlying rocks and the movements which caused the Zuñi Mountains to project so far above sea level. These pressures caused the sandstone to crack into the long openings which we call joints. ”