THESE
WILD ROCKS
The Southwest is full of strange surprises. You don't need mescaline to experience otherworldly visions. The land provides that in spades — as long as you know where to look.
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument in northwest New Mexico is one of the more peculiar landscapes I've encountered in my travels. It feels foreign and alien, like you're walking on the surface of another planet. But instead of being unnerving, the place is downright captivating as it pulls you farther into its curious crevices. There's only one other place in the world I'm aware of that has the “fairy chimney“ rock formations similar to Kasha-Katuwe (which means “white cliffs“ in the Keresan language of the Pueblo), and you have to travel to Turkey to find it.
The national monument feels remote, but it's easily accessible at just 44 miles from Santa Fe and 58 miles from Albuquerque. It'd be easy to spend the morning and early afternoon hiking the trails of the park and then hitting the road for an evening in the city. I camped at nearby Tetilla Peak Recreation Area (27 miles away) on a Friday night in early May and woke up with the sun to beat the Saturday crowd. And trust me, there will most likely be crowds if it's a nice weekend in the spring or summer. The parking lot is small and fills up quickly. The secret is apparently out on this place.
There are two main trails at Kasha-Katuwe: the 1.2-mile Cave Loop Trail and the 1.5-mile (one way) Slot Canyon Trail. The former is the easier of the two, allowing hikers to get acquainted with the landscape by wandering beneath the white cliffs on relatively level, gravely ground covered by scattered shrubs, sand sage, yucca and cacti. The latter takes you into the heart of monument as Kasha-Katuwe reveals itself from every angle.
If you have time for only one trail, definitely take Slot Canyon Trail. Also, if you get to the park early in the morning on a weekend before the rush, hike Slot Canyon Trail before Cave Loop Trail. It's much more popular and its narrow passages can get bottlenecked.
The trails at Kasha-Katuwe are terrific, but your visit could be spoiled if you aren't aware of a couple of pieces of information.
There is no water available at the national monument. Bring your own. If it's late spring or summer, you'll need it. It can get hot on the high desert and, outside of the canyon, there's little to no shade.
Also, dogs are not allowed at Tent Rocks. There are very few negative reviews of the national monument on Google Maps and TripAdvisor. They're mostly by people who went to Kasha-Katuwe with their dogs without checking the monument's policy beforehand, then were turned away upon arrival.
I mistakenly took Cave Loop Trail first. It was a relaxing, peaceful stroll under early morning clouds that gave way to blue skies. The sun highlighted the white, pink, beige, and tan striations of the walls of conical rock formations. Many of the tops of the tent rocks are adorned with small boulder caps, which makes the already odd structures seem even more ridiculous.
This area's unique geology can be attributed to cataclysmic events 6.8 million years ago when the immense explosions from the Jemez volcanic field left pumice, ash and tuff (a rock made of particles of volcanic ash of varying sizes) over 1,000 feet thick. A pyroclastic flow (volcanic avalanche containing lots of hot rocks, gases and molten stuff) roared down the surrounding slopes. Erosion of these layers over time has resulted in the canyons and tent rocks that appear today.
Ancient inhabitants used the soft rock walls to their advantage, carving small caves for shelter. There's one primary cave visible on Cave Loop Trail. Its opening is a few feet up from ground level, which protected the dwellings from flash floods and made it difficult for animals to crawl inside. Black stains are visible on the ceiling of the cave, showing its inhabitants used the few trees and sparse brush in the area to create fire.
With the morning sun heating the high desert air, I completed the Cave Loop Trail and headed for the opening of Slot Canyon Trail, eager to see what curiosities lay ahead.
This trail.
It's like the brainchild of an expert amusement ride designer, except I'd imagine it's far superior to anything you'll find at Disneyland or Universal. From the moment you step out of the sun and walk into the shadows of the slot canyon, you're carried along on an entertaining linear journey where there's something new and fascinating to see at every turn. But rather than assault your senses, this ride soothes them.
Much of the canyon is narrow enough that you can brush the fingertips of both hands against the gravely/concrete texture of the tall, wavy walls. It's noticeably cooler here and a pleasant respite from the high desert heat. Quiet and still when no fellow hikers are around, the air carries only the sound of your footsteps crunching the sandy ground and the occasional bird chirping from the cliffs above.
There is no mistaking the correct path to follow along this well-trodden trail, yet it's easy to lose yourself when you discover moments of silence among these old rocks. Millions of years have gone into forming everything around you, and you can feel it. The striations and weathered undulations of the walls are their records of history. They'll last longer than anything I'll create and leave behind.
Not all of Slot Canyon Trail is slot canyon. There are areas where it opens up into large bowls that hold their own unique environments. Scattered shrubs and small patches of Ponderosa pine have found sufficient water and nutrients to take root in places it, at first glance, appears they shouldn't be. The shade from the high cliffs allows some hardy plants to grow here with less moisture than they would need out on the desert valley, and the canyon acts as a funnel that collects rainwater to help sustain the resilient vegetation.
And then, of course, there are the striking tent rocks. They look like the tips of enormous sharpened pencils poked through the surface of the earth from below — some supersized avant-garde concrete art installation in the middle of nowhere.
Near the end of the Slot Canyon Trail, the path rises up switchbacks that take you 630 feet to the top of the mesa. Here, you'll have a completely different perspective of the hoodoos you just walked among minutes earlier. Looking toward the base of the tent rocks at real human beings hiking in this otherworldly landscape drives home just how surreal this place is.
Walking along the top of the mesa provides magnificent views of the Rio Grande Valley and the Sangre de Cristo, Jemez and Sandia mountains in the distance. A narrow spine extends from the mesa and is a popular place to take in the vast expanse in three directions. While hiking out to its tip, don't get startled by the swallows darting past your body like dive bombers playing chicken. Once you make it to the end, find a spot to sit down and take it all in.
The hike back is nearly as riveting as the trip out. Though covering the same path, many areas seem new when viewed them from a different angle. Upon exiting the canyon, I felt like I was leaving a fantasy and returning to reality as I headed back to my car. I felt compelled to turn around and take the trail again, like a kid at a water park when his head pops up out of the water after going down the best slide. But I knew I had to leave if I wanted to spend a little time in Santa Fe before heading up to Bandelier to camp that night. My repeat ride will have to wait until my next trip to New Mexico.