Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument

In my last two posts about the splendor of the hikes you can take around Santa Fe, I headed north of Santa Fe where we scrambled up and down ladders at Bandelier National Monument, and then another day head towards the stark inspirational beauty of Plaza Blanca.  Our third and final hiking excursion during our stay was to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, which is between Santa Fe and Albuquerque and about an hour away if you start at either of those cities.

What makes this hike fun is that it’s a relatively easy hike that includes walking through (and a few climbing over rocks) in the slot canyons as well as hiking up to the top of the cliffs for some stunning views of the rocks from bottom to top, if you take the 1.5 mile each way Canyon Trail to the overlook 630 feet up. Then on the way back join up with the rest of the 1.2 mile round trip easy Cave Loop and take the other fork to circle back to the parking area, which also takes you past a man made cave.

What makes this hike special are the the unique rock formations that are tent like, giving Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks their name. Kasha Katuwe means White Cliffs in the language of the Cochiti Pueblo people – you drive through some of their tribal lands to get here. We visited on a day after a huge rainstorm, and so the rocks still were retaining the moisture which resulted in more color and being able to really see the geologic layers of all the many thousands of years before us.

Walking through the canyons on Canyon Trail, you’ll be able to see the details of these layers up close.

Walking through the canyons, they eventually get tighter into the slot canyons. When you visit, do be aware of any storm systems as slot canyons can be susceptible to flash flooding so take precautions. We saw the trails left behind from the flows of water the day before, but it was all dry for us with some areas of mud for the hike. Of course we weren’t visiting during monsoon season, and I still checked weather reports for flash flood risk.

There may be a few points which require a little climbing over rocks and under a boulder to get through, one person at a time. That just makes it more fun, right?

After the slot canyon section, you will come to the clearly formulated tent rocks. The cloudy skies cleared for us and provided a brilliant New Mexico blue sky contrasting background. The tent features of the rocks, also called hoodoos, might bring to mind the otherworldly “fairy chimneys” of Cappadocia in Turkey, which is the only other place in the world with these formations. In both cases, it was volcanic activity that then eroded over time into the cliffs, canyons, and cones of softer pumice and tuff.

Sometimes the softer rock portion is topped by a harder caprock, often resulting in fascinating rocks that appear to be barely balanced.

And you may even see shapes that you recognize in the rock formations, similar to seeing shapes in clouds… I felt like I was passing guardians along the path at both these points here.

As you begin to ascend steeply at one point on the trail, you get a chance to see the tent rocks from bottom to top to from above as you continue to walk up the path. The top of the mesa affords you a view over the Tent Rock formations,  down Peralta Canyon and across to the far away Sangre de Cristo and Jemez Mountains. This was my favorite view of the hike.

Here is the  famous view of the Tent Rocks at Kasha-Katuwe and the gorgeous landscape for miles and miles around us.

There’s a few more cool spots as you walk towards the end of the trail before you turn around go back and look down from the top at some of the canyons you had walked through earlier and also see a few more formations.

As you head back, you should get back on the other half of the Cave Loop trail where it branched, you follow it so that you will eventually get to where can view a manmade cave. The cave still has blackened walls from cooking fires, and notice how it’s high off the ground for safety from animals an weather and enemies.

Then when you are almost at the parking lot you will walk past more tent rocks which are more triangular and almost like teepees. I swear there’s a face in one of them…

In the parking lot, besides a self pay station for the park admission, there is a restroom, as well as several picnic tables for eating before or after your hike if you wish. There are animal friends around hoping you will picnic.

On the trail we encountered 3 other wildlife “friends”. I would not call them my friends, but F was pleased. This is pretty consistent with all our hikes – he’s always looking for all wildlife while I’m mesmerized by the views and getting them from different angles.

As I said before, of our 3 nature day trips, this was the most fun for hiking because of the variety in the path. We rewarded ourselves on our way back to Santa Fe by stopping at Duel Brewery, which specializes in Belgian style beers .They also have a tasting room under construction in Albuquerque,, so check for an update on their website because you might find it on your way to stop by too even if driving back to ABQ instead. The tasting room we visited at Parkway Drive in Santa Fe also showcases lots of paintings. They offer some light food of cheese, meat or vegetable plates to go with the beer.

What do you think of the tent rocks? Have you been to New Mexico before, what was your favorite day trip or hike? Of the three easy hiking day trips I’ve now shared, which sounds or looks most appealing to you?

Here’s the summary of my series of posts on Santa Fe, New Mexico Travels

• Bandelier National Monument
• Visiting Plaza Blanca
• Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument
• Santa Fe Art Scenes
• Santa Fe Eats