El Morro Valley is a
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
(CDP) in
Cibola County,
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
, United States. It includes
El Morro National Monument
El Morro National Monument is a U.S. national monument in Cibola County, New Mexico, United States. Located on an ancient east–west trail in the western part of the state, the monument preserves the remains of a large prehistoric pueblo atop ...
and the
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
of El Morro. The area was first listed as a CDP prior to the
2020 census.
[
The CDP is in northwestern Cibola County along ]New Mexico State Road 53
State Road 53 (NM 53) is a state highway in the US state of New Mexico. Its total length is approximately . NM 53's western terminus is a continuation as Arizona State Route 61 (AZ 61) at the Arizona border west-southwest of Zun ...
; it is southeast of Ramah and southwest of Interstate 40
Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...
at Grants
Grant or Grants may refer to:
People
* Grant (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Grant (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters
** Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885), the 18th president of the U ...
. It is remotely located west-southwest of Grants
Grant or Grants may refer to:
People
* Grant (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Grant (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters
** Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885), the 18th president of the U ...
along New Mexico State Road 53
State Road 53 (NM 53) is a state highway in the US state of New Mexico. Its total length is approximately . NM 53's western terminus is a continuation as Arizona State Route 61 (AZ 61) at the Arizona border west-southwest of Zun ...
(also known as the Ancient Way), and southeast of Gallup
Gallup may refer to:
* Gallup, Inc., a firm founded by George Gallup, well known for its opinion poll
* Gallup (surname), a surname
*Gallup, New Mexico, a city in New Mexico, United States
** Gallup station, an Amtrak train in downtown Gallup, New ...
.
El Morro is named after a nearby sandstone promontory
A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the s ...
with a pool of water at its base, a desert oasis which the Spanish conquistadors called ''El Morro'' (The Headland). The Zuni people
The Zuni (; formerly spelled ''Zuñi'') are Native American Pueblo peoples native to the Zuni River valley. The Zuni people today are federally recognized as the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico, and most live in the Pueblo o ...
call it ''A'ts'ina'' (Place of Writings on the Rock). Anglo-Americans called it "Inscription Rock". El Morro National Monument
El Morro National Monument is a U.S. national monument in Cibola County, New Mexico, United States. Located on an ancient east–west trail in the western part of the state, the monument preserves the remains of a large prehistoric pueblo atop ...
is located west of the community on Highway 53, along the old Zuni-Acoma Trail, an ancient Pueblo trade route also known as the Ancient Way.
El Morro is an artist community and home of the El Morro Area Arts Council, an art gallery, a trading post / coffee shop, cafe, RV park & campgrounds, feed & seed store, consignment store and healing arts center. El Morro is the social hub for a colorful array of artists, homesteaders and individualists who reside in a 1000+ square mile area, from El Malpais National Monument
El Malpais National Monument is a National Monument located in western New Mexico, in the Southwestern United States. The name El Malpais is from the Spanish term '' Malpaís'', meaning ''badlands'', due to the extremely barren and dramatic volc ...
to the east, Ramah to the west, the Zuni Mountains to the north, and Candy Kitchen to the south.
Demographics
Climate
El Morro Valley's climate is affected by the North American monsoon, which comes during the summer months. The rest of the year is quite dry. Typical of high altitude locations in the American west, El Morro Valley experiences a wide average diurnal temperature variation
In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day.
Temperature lag
Temperature lag, also known as thermal inertia, is an important factor in diur ...
, sometimes exceeding 30-40°F. The highest temperature ever recorded was 100° on June 28, 1953, and the coldest temperature ever recorded was -38° on January 13, 1963. The lowest maximum temperature ever recorded was 4° on February 3, 2011, while the highest minimum temperature ever recorded was 66° on August 10, 1995.
References
External links
Old School Gallery
Along The Ancient Way - El Morro Valley Community Website
Timberlake - Ramah News
Census-designated places in Cibola County, New Mexico
Census-designated places in New Mexico
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