Four Days - Five Parks - Nashville to Pinetop, AZ

We packed up and left Nashville early Wednesday morning March 9. We drove to Ft. Smith, Arkansas where we stopped and spent the night. We toured the Ft. Smith National Historic Site.


We found an interesting history there. The building we toured was the barracks, courthouse and jail. In the basement was a primitive jail.


The conditions were terrible and a new one was built in 1887.

We learned about Judge Parker and saw a reproduction of the 1886 gallows.

There was an overlook on the Arkansas River to the Trail of Tears where the five Eastern tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee and Seminole) were removed and forced to Oklahoma.

Most came by this spot to enter Oklahoma.

Thursday we drove from Ft Smith to Amarillo, TX. In Oklahoma we stopped to visit Washita Battlefield National Historic Site learning about the history of this spot.


The visitor center is very new but the story began in November 1868 when Lt. Col George Armstrong Custer led the 7th U.S. Cavalry on an attack against the Southern Cheyenne village of Peace Chief Black Kettle. The displays are very educational. There were four American Elm seedlings planted in 2006 to honor those who died both at Washita and at Oklahoma City in 1995. After the Oklahoma City attack there was only one survivor and that was an American Elm tree which survived the blast. The four seedlings are from that tree. The information says that the number “four” has special significance to the Cheyenne people.

Friday was the drive from Amarillo to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We stopped at the visitor center when we entered New Mexico. We got some of the best information we have ever received at a visitor center. The neatest thing was a half sheet of paper with a list of I-40 Attractions and the exit number for each attraction. We stopped to see the Blue Hole in Santa Rosa. It is 81 feet deep, 60 feet in diameter. The outflow into a small streeam is 3,000 gallon per minute and the water temperature is 61. They use it for scuba diving and training.



In Albuquerque we visited the Petroglyph National Monument. Even though we were at about 5,000 feet in altitude is was very warm and sunny. We walked a couple of short trails at Boca Negra Canyon to see the petroglyphs.



We did learn that only the carvers know the true meaning of the petroglyphs. Archeologists estimate that most of the images were made 400 to 700 years ago but some may be 2,000 to 3,000 years old. We ate dinner in Old Town at a restaurant where we had dinner 7 years ago on our way to the Grand Canyon.

Saturday we left Albuquerque for our drive to Pinetop, Arizona. We drove about an hour and stopped to visit El Malpais National Monument.




We stopped at Sandstone Bluffs Overlook which had excellent views of El Malpais lava flows and the beautiful sandstone bluffs.



A little further south was the La Ventana Natural Arch which is the largest of New Mexico’s readily reached natural arches.



We just had a short ¼ mile trail to traverse. We then went back north to I-40, stopped at the next exit at the Visitor Center in order to get our passport stamped.

Then we drove one more exit and left I-40 taking highway 53 south and west to El Morro National Monument.


It is a cuesta, a long formation gently sloping upward, then dropping off abruptly at one end. The land is made up of sandstone layers deposited by wind, desert streams, and an ancient sea. Travelers relied on El Morro’s source of water, a pool of runoff and of snowmelt.


While they rested they added their messages to the rock.


The Zuni Indians call it Atsinna – “place of writings on the rock”. The Spaniards called it El Morro – The Headland. Anglo-Americans called it Inscription Rock. We spent over an hour walking the trail and viewing the many inscriptions found.
The weather has been great for us. It warms up to about 70 or so during the day and cools down at night. At this park the ranger said he has had snow every weekend. There were piles of snow all around. There is also a second hike of about 2 miles that you could take but part of it is still closed because of the snow. The trail that we took went around the end of the rock to the north side.


It indeed was much colder there out of the sun and we were able to see where the other trail was closed.


After viewing El Morro we continued on west into Arizona using the smaller highways and arriving at the timeshare in Pinetop, Arizona at about 5 p.m. We are now at about 7,000 feet and could really notice the difference.