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.

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.

Bird's eye view of the park

El Morro National Monument

The Chain of Craters Backcountry Byway is a 33-mile backcountry byway located
in El Malpais National Conservation Area (NCA) and National Monument in
northwestern New Mexico. The byway, which is County Road 42, passes almost
exclusively through public lands. County Road 42 forms the western boundary of
the West Malpais Wilderness and connects NM 53 and NM 117. For information
regarding what you will see or the public lands you will have access to along
the byway, see BLM's El Malpais NCA recreation website.

The Chain of Craters Backcountry Byway is a 33-mile backcountry byway located in El Malpais National Conservation Area (NCA) and National Monument in northwestern New Mexico. The byway, which is County Road 42, passes almost exclusively through public lands. County Road 42 forms the western boundary of the West Malpais Wilderness and connects NM 53 and NM 117. 
 
For information regarding what you will see or the public lands you will have access to along the byway, see BLM's El Malpais NCA recreation website.

Chain of Craters Backcountry Byway

The Chain of Craters WSA is located in west-central New Mexico within the El
Malpais National Conservation Area. This is a line of more than 25 cinder
cones that was the result of magma finding a weak spot in the Earth's crust.
The lower elevations are dominated by piсon and juniper woodland giving way to
forests of ponderosa pine at higher elevations. The Continental Divide
National Scenic Trail passes through this WSA.

The Chain of Craters WSA is located in west-central New Mexico within the El Malpais National Conservation Area. This is a line of more than 25 cinder cones that was the result of magma finding a weak spot in the Earth's crust. The lower elevations are dominated by piсon and juniper woodland giving way to forests of ponderosa pine at higher elevations. 
 
The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail passes through this WSA.

El Morro National Monument

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Nearby Parks

Chain of Craters Backcountry Byway

Chain of Craters Wilderness Study Area