Day Trips -- Tent Rocks AKA Kasha Katuwe

I've been working on my house and not getting out much so I decided to take a few day trips before the weather got too risky.  I hope to take a day each week and just run off somewhere.  Yesterday I headed up to Tent Rocks.  It's about a 25 minute drive up the interstate toward Santa Fe with another 20 minutes or so going through the Cochiti Pueblo lands.  Kasha Katuwe is a Cochiti name for a white cliff and it is now designated as a national monument. It's a place close enough that I can go there from time to time just to get out and walk around but this was my first tip up to see it.

Of course, things never go as planned and I got stuck in a traffic jam in Bernalillo for forty minutes. That seems impossible but there is a minor traffic jam there all the time because of road construction. Then there was a serious car wreck on top of the construction confusion only complicated by cops trying to direct traffic and no one having any idea where to go. Then there were ambulances and fire trucks trying to get through. The cops directed traffic into a residential neighborhood and from there it was every man for himself. So, the trip took twice as long as it should have.

I've seen pictures of Tent Rocks so I had an idea of what was there but there was a lot more than I expected. Part of the monument is closed because recent monsoon rains have washed out a road. The main picnic and hiking area is open and I was surprised to see how busy it was on a Thursday afternoon. The parking lot was nearly full. There is a loop trail among the tent rocks and then a second trail that goes through a slot canyon and climbs up to the top of the cliff and offers a view of the area.

The geology of the area causes strange erosional features that appear to be Indian tepees from a distance.  Millions of years ago this was a very active volcanic zone and much of the area is covered with volcanic ash and ejected rocks. As water wore down through the layers of ash it left strange shaped remnants that ere usually capped by a hard and water resistant rock.

There were many periods of eruption and ash build up to the point that the ash layer is over 1000 feet thick. It has become consolidated into a concrete-like stone with hundreds of different bands representing the different eruption cycles.

The local Indians occasionally carved homes or shelters out of the solid layers of ash.  This one is close to the loop trail.

I wandered around taking pictures of the rocks and the loop trail and then decided to take the trail through the slot canyon to the top of the cliffs. They said it was a rugged trail with some climbing and rock scrambling along the way. It turned out to be a pretty good challenge and certainly worth the effort. I was surprised to see some of the people trying to make it up the canyon. There were a few old folks...older than me...and one woman with a rotator cuff injury that was being led back into the canyon by a friend. The friend was sure they would make it OK. I had my camera monopod that I was using as a hiking stick and a small backpack and I was having a hard time in some of the places.

There were a few places where the canyon walls were only about four or five feet apart. I'm kinda pear-shaped and was wondering just how narrow this was going to get. Footing is treacherous in many spots either because of loose stones or slick bedrock.  The trail is actually a creek bed that must become a raging torrent during heavy rains.   There are dry waterfalls that you have to climb over. What you climb over on the way up you have to climb down as you come back -- it isn't a loop. I kept thinking "How am I gonna get down from here??"

When you finally get through the narrowest part of the canyon you have to climb up through a jumbled boulder and cobble filled ravine to get to the top of the cliff. The trail is identified mostly by the tracks of hiking boots of people who went this way before. I was hoping that they knew where they were going. Folks coming back down were exhausted but said it was worth the effort. At one point I met Larry...who was lost or at least separated from his group. He was at the top of the cliff and somehow missed his friends and started back down. He asked if I had seen his party and then said that if I met them along the trail to tell them that "Larry is on his way back down".  Well, sure enough, about five minutes later here comes Larry's wife and two friends who are looking perplexed and wondering where somebody is. I asked if they were looking for Larry and, of course they were and I passed on his message.  Seems like Larry does this sort of thing fairly often. I also met a couple who were celebrating their eighth anniversary by hiking through the canyon.



View from the top

The final climb is a scramble up a nearly vertical slope over switchbacks and some three and four foot rock ledges. The top is impressive but the wind came up and it almost blew me off the cliff. There are a few trails around the top and a couple trees to get behind as shelter from the wind. I met a German couple hiding behind a tree who were thinking they could camp there but were going to have to find another place. The monument is day use only. I suggested they go up to the national forest up by Santa Fe but they were afraid it would be too cold in the mountains. (Joanne and I camped there in October one year and it was very pleasant.) It was especially windy the day I was there...next time I'll pick a calmer day.

The view is impressive and I took a bunch of pictures but I took so many on my way up that my camera battery was getting low. I ended up not taking as many on my way back down the canyon.  When I got back to the parking lot I read some of the information posted on the displays and the brochure -- the climb to the top is 630 feet up --- no wonder I was tired.

This was an interesting place and close enough that I can come back here and spend more time.