Tent Rocks

This past January I decided I wanted to visit Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. It’s less than an hour from Albuquerque, on the way to Santa Fe. The cone-shaped tent rock formations are the products of volcanic eruptions which left pumice, ash and tuft deposits over 1,000’ thick. Mixtures of the materials along with erosion caused by wind and water has resulted in these formations.

The name Kasha-Katuwe means ‘white cliffs’ in the Keresan language, from one of the local pueblos.

There are two trails that go in and along the canyons that make up Tent Rocks. The Canyon trail actually goes into and eventually ends up on the top of the formation with overlooks all around. The climb is over 600’ to the top with the trail slightly over a mile in length.

Another stop you should make, the Veteran’s Memorial, is another 3 miles to the west by way of the same gravel road taken to Tent Rocks. It has a wheel-chair accessible 1 mile long path which provides many views of the Peralta Canyon and Jemez Mountain peaks. Picnic table and toilets are available.

I had a wonderful time on that Saturday. I got there relatively early, 1030, and while on the way up to the top ran into a half dozen other hikers. The way down was busy with hikers, coming upon 30 - 40 on the return trip. As you can see by one of my photos it gets kind of tight in a few spots so your hike may be slowed down by one-way traffic. It was very nice in January, snow in spots where the sun didn’t shine but the temperatures were very comfortable for hiking. I am not certain I would want to do this hike in the summer unless it is early in the day with lots of water and sunscreen.



Veteran's Memorial panorama



For more information go to http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/recreation/rio_puerco/kasha_katuwe_tent_rocks.html

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark