Plan to land at the Gallup airport (KGUP) at 2 PM. We’ll stay at the historic El Rancho Hotel on Route 66 where the movie stars stayed. Happy hour will be there but dinner will be on your own at any of the numerous restaurants close by.

Drive (1hr) to El Morro National Monument. This is a well-kept NM secret. We’ll see the Visitors center and those interested can do some hiking.  El Morro National Monument 

The Inscription Trail: A must–see! You will definitely want to take this trail past hundreds of Spanish and Anglo inscriptions, as well as pre–historic petroglyphs. It will be easy to see why El Morro was proclaimed a National Monument. This loop trail is paved and 1/2 mile in length.


The Headland Trail: This 2–mile loop includes the Inscription Trail and continues to the top of the bluff. There, you will be rewarded with spectacular views of the Zuni Mountains, the volcanic craters of the El Malpais area, and the El Morro valley. A 250 ft. elevation gain and the uneven sandstone surface make this a slightly strenuous hike. Another reward for hiking the Headland Trail is the Ancestral Puebloan ruin, Atsinna, or “place of writings on rock”. Between approximately 1275 to 1350 AD, up to 600 people lived in this 355-room pueblo. Its location was strategic— near the only water source for many miles and located atop a nearly impenetrable bluff.

Saturday Afternoon: Lunch. We’ll visit the Navajo Code Talkers Museum, Gallup Cultural Center and the Rex Museum. Then comes Happy Hour, a group dinner at the historic El Rancho Hotel and Ice Cream!.