A woman playing pickeball told Duane about this place, about 30 miles south of Santa Fe on I25, CR16, and CR22.
Four miles further on the park road brought us to the foot of the rock formations.
Kasha-Katuwe (white cliffs) Tent Rocks National Monument includes 5,610 acres of public land designated as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern, which means that it is open only for hiking on the designated trails--no drones, rock climbing, shooting, collecting of anything, and no dogs (except identifiable service dogs).
The cone-shaped rock formations are products of volcanic eruptions that left pumice, ash, and tuff deposits over 1,000 feet thick. Tremendous explosions spewed out rock fragments, and searing hot gases blasted slopes in fiery avalanche. As a result bands of grey are interspersed with beige and pink rock along the cliff face. Over time, wind and water cut into these deposits creation canyons and arroyos, scooping holes in the rock and contouring the capped spires and conical hoodoos.
There are two trails available. The Cave Loop Trail is 1.2 miles rated easy with portions ADA accessible. We opted for the more difficult Canyon Trail, a 1.5 mile trek. Not far from the trail head I stopped for a shot of this pine trunk. When I looked at it later, what did I find? Creepy Guy!
The trek took us up a narrow canyon.
We had to watch where and how we put our feet, but took lots of time to look up also.
The spires grew closer as we hiked up the steep 630 foot trail to the top of the mesa.
At the top we had wondrous views of the Sangre de Cristo, Jemez (Haymus), and Sandia mountains, and the Rio Grande valley.
Our parking lot is just left of that mesa.
What goes up must go down; in this case where those people are way down there.
This was the first strenuous hike for Duane on his new knees. His inability to bend his knees made some parts of the trail tricky to negotiate, but otherwise he had problems. We're ready for for the big hikes again.
Hurray for the Old People!
Louise and Duane
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