Hiking tent rocks Memorial Park
The climate during mid-fall is a perfect temperature to explore New Mexico's and all it has to offer. If you find yourself in Santa Fe, you may want to get out of the city and explore some of the beautiful desert surroundings. The Kasha-Katuwei Tent Rocks Memorial Park is located on the Cochiti Indian Reservation, about an hour outside of Santa Fe.
The trailhead at Tent Rocks National Monument began with a sandy, shaded path into the canyon. The early morning air was dry and warm, but the breeze kept us comfortable. We walked from shadow to shadow, flanked by dry, wiry shrubs and short spiky cacti. Trees stretched themselves tall, their sparse upper limbs reaching out greedily to catch the morning sunlight.
The canyon walls stood towering over us in layered bands in white, creams, and dusty oranges. I traced my fingers along the long, deep grooves of sediment and thought of the ancient glaciers carving their way through the earth at a snail pace.
By our feet, lizards darted from coveted sunbathing spots into their shady cacti sanctuaries. Overhead puffy white clouds drifted slowly, obscuring a deep azul sky.
As we walked on, the walls of the ravine narrowed sharply, forcing us to squeeze by single-file. Sometimes we even had to clamber over and under giant boulders to move forward.
The trail terminated abruptly at the end of the canyon, and suddenly the easy, walkable path turned into a calf-busting climb for 750 feet straight up. The man-made stone steps were placed ever-so-perfectly to blend in and look natural, making it even more challenging.
Oh, but it was worth the climb.
With a final huff, we made it to the top and stood in awe at the perfect scene of large cotton-ball clouds drifting lazily, making shadows across clusters of pinkish-white cone-shaped rocks. We peered over the ridge to a dizzying view of the canyon where we had just come from.
At that moment, my legs trembled like jello, but I felt immense satisfaction and accomplishment for sticking through the climb. We began to notice the other hikers, posing for selfies and sitting in the rapidly warming sun.
We spent a few minutes catching our breaths and watching others who successfully made the clime take in the view and immediately pull out their camera for selfies.
We felt the sun heating up, and with no shade, we didn't stay long. We made sure to lock the view into our memories before returning back the way we came. We made the descent down the same stone steps, this time having the opportunity to see the tent rocks we missed on the way up. We marveled at the geological magic made here in this place and thanked the universe for a chance to see it on such a mild day.
