El Morro National Monument features "Inscription Rock," a soft sandstone monolith, rising 200 feet above the valley floor. Remarkable are its hundreds of inscriptions carved into the sandstone by Anasazi Indians, Spanish explorers, including legendary colonizer and explorer, Don Juan de Onate, Army explorations, railroad-survey expeditions and immigrants to California. While some inscriptions are merely names, others offer accounts of battles or discoveries, piecing together history. These diverse peoples congregated at this site for the 200,000-gallon water hole located at the base of El Morro.

The monument also includes pre-Columbian petroglyphs and Pueblo Indian ruins. Visitors can take in the remarkable views of the area's raw, natural beauty as they hike to the 13th century Anasazi ruins atop the El Morro bluff.