Another Hum-Dinger

[BD]

Departed Echo Amphitheater at {blah-blah-blah}headed for Kasha Katuwe also known as Tent Rocks.  We had seen a post card with some pics of this area back in Nageesi at a trading post and it looked worth a stop. Turned out to be the second most picturesque stop of the trip so far.

Located SW of SantaFe (see map above) this National Monument is cooperatively run by the Cochiti Indians and the NPS. The entrance gate was manned by a local, maybe 15-yr old wearing baggy jeans, big floppy sneakers and a NPS shirt.  To my own discredit, I'm thinking "OK, I'm gonna get skinned here." figuratively speaking.  Of course he was really a great kid, very helpful and with a huge grin.


If nothing else, trips like this help melt away some of the prejudices that get ingrained from watching too may cowboy & indian movies as a kid.



Anyway, as we've come to expect, Tent Rocks was spectacular.  The trail starts out pretty flat and wide with great views of the canyon walls and far away HooDoo's.  After about a half mile, it narrows and climbs slowly into a slot canyon  which is filled with desert foliage as well as some large douglas fir and pines.

It continues to narrow until its single file with walls stretching out of sight overhead..  that's when you start thinking, "Glad its a sunny day."  Pretty soon you break out into a broader section of the canyon filed with the park's namesakes.  Tall cones of rock, many capped by a sizable boulder.  Now the thought changes to "it a bit like a giant's bowling alley where we are the pins."


We continue to climb until we are looking down on the same view that was on the Nageesi postcards.  So of course we take lots of pictures because I was too cheap to buy the postcard.. 


Now the trail takes a decided change to a steep, rocky climb to the summit of the mesa.  We top out to a 360 degree panorama of the New Mexico desert -- and a sizable set of dark clouds you couldn't see from the ascending trail.

We Were All The Way Up THERE?

Being mindful that it's not smart to be the highest thing on the highest peak with an approaching thunderstorm,  we wiki-wiki hightail it off the peak to make room for someone else to be the highest point.  The hike down is pleasant even in the short light rain that followed us for a while.


All-in-all, another absolutely gorgeous hike to end the day.






Then off to the nearby campground to blog the hike and to plan for whatever comes tomorrow.


Goodnight from Kasha Katuwe