WHAT'S DOWN WITH THE BREHMS AT EL MORRO, 7/24/11

BANDERA VOLCANO GODESS

Kind of a pleasantly unexpected week here in Grants NM. We pride ourselves in our investigative/explorative natures, but Grants turns out to be a big surprise. We have spent the night here a few times in the past. Refueled, and headed on to interesting places. After spending time at Parker AZ, and Cottonwood AZ., Grants turns out to be very comfortable. The campground is no 5 star, but the weather is much cooler, the winds are just breezes, and there are no *@!&% bugs. We decided to spend a week. Grants is a small cowboy and Indian town. No fancy houses, lots of rusted old cars, lava beds everywhere. No local attractions. Main St is old Route 66 but the folks are friendly. Today we took a drive out hwy 53 into the country. Nice drive, and we wound up climbing the Bandera Volacano, which is over 8000", then we hiked down to to the Ice Cave where the temp is 31 degrees, that's below freezing. We continued our drive to El Morro Nat. Monument. It is breathtaking, beautiful, and loaded with history you can wittness. The pics help. In case you didn't know, you can click on any picture to enlarge it. You may want to so with the "inscriptions". It turns out the walls of El Morro have been inscribed by the indiginous Indians in the 1400's, the Spanish Conquistadors, and the American pioneers heading west. I have many more pics if you're intrested. All is well here, hope the same for y'all. Love and God Bless..............


Ray & Diane & the Fur boys.

BANDERA CRATER

This is a large hole in the midle of a volcano, the Bandera Volcano. They call it a crater. I call it a physical challenge for a mature male. This puppy is over 8000' in altitude but I made it. Hopefully Medivac will chopper me out before the snows come.

ICE CAVE AT THE BOTTOM OF A VOLCANO

It's not enough to climb a stinkin volcano, I have to crawl down into an ice cave caused by a lava tube from the same volcano. 31 degrees F. And we have to climb out, yippee...............

FROZEN WATERFALL

I had nothing to do with this! It was like this when I got here. There is a small waterfall to the pool in the ice cave. It's frozen, like me...

CIRQUE DU HUMMER

This feeder hangs outside the ticket booth at the volcano/ice cave. The hummers are prolific and well fed. Probably on Govt. assistance.

EL MORRO POOL

Incredibly beautiful scene. At the base of El Morro, is this wonderful pool. the hourglass looking rock formation in the back wall has been carved by a waterfall that must appear in the wet season.

AMERICAN PIONEER MEMORIAL

Be sure to click on this pic to enlarge it. It is the inscription of a pioneer from Baltimore, probably headed for the California gold fields.

SPANISH CONQUISTADOR BILLBOARD

In the 1600's and 1700's the Spainish conquistadors came in search of Cibola, the City of Gold. As they passed El Morro, many of them inscribed their names and messages. This is one.

ANCIENT INDIAN BILLBOARD

In the 1400's, the predessors to the Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo lived or passed by this huge mesa. These are petroglyphs that date back to that period. Note the snake and the bighorn sheep.

CORNERSTONE FAVORITE

This is the corner of El Morro, and obviousely a favorite place to inscribe proof of pressence, as it has examples of all three groups of travelers.

SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE

On our way to explore the sights, we passed through the Continental Divide. What a holistic trip, dude..............