It’s the midpoint of October today and back home in the midwest I’d likely be seeing cooler temperatures and often gray cloudy skies. Happily I’m here in the far southwest high desert and it’s a near perfect mid 70’s day with partially clouded blue skies. I continued from Fort Wingate back west on I-40 through Gallup, down NM-602 through the Zuni Pueblo, and then east on NM-53 until I reached El Morro National Monument.
Honestly I had this location and El Malpais on my “things to see” list but knew absolutely nothing about them before arriving. This is why you always check out the visitor center first before hitting the trails – often times doing it this way you will create a deeper connection to the history of the site.
Speaking of history, it was very interesting to see a large sign posted at the start of the educational displays pointing out the outdated use of terms and language since they were created in the 1960s. Some of these I expected and already knew (i.e. Native or Indigenous vs Indian), but others (such as “Anasazi” meaning “ancient enemy”) I was not aware of and appreciative to learn about. Educating yourself is never a bad thing, often it allows us to reshape the ways we approach culture to be most respectful.
Several of the niches/displays are covered up with small notes stating the same – displays are outdated and being re-done.
Only a handful of displays are still open, and even those are using outdated terms. At least they don’t whitewash history and do acknowledge how the Indigenous were forced off their lands either by Spanish conquistadors or U.S. armed forces.
Remember what I said about learing more about a place? This is the exception. Spoiler alert: more info is found on the trails than in the visitor center. Hopefully in the future after the displays are re-done there can be better information. Oh well, time to do some hiking.
Lat = 35.0384064 , Long = -108.3488388 -- Show at Google Maps