Tent Rocks

We got up early this morning to get ready for a hike at Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. It's quite close to Cochiti campground.

We hiked the slot canyon trail. It started out flat and sandy, but after the first half mile, when it branched off the Cave Loop Trail, the going got a bit more challenging. The scenery was spectacular, and we stopped for photos. The trail leads through some narrow spots and requires some minimal rock scrambling. Then we came to the steep switchbacks.

About this time, large numbers of students began to pass us. It turned out to be three busloads of sophomores from a charter school in Albuquerque. I was glad to see kids out in the National Parks, but some of them were a bit disruptive--yelling noisily, sitting in the path, and one group of girls even singing "Summer Nights" from Grease with a boom box. By the time we reached the top, most of them had begun to head back down. We sat and rested on some rocks and chatted with a couple of women while waiting for a large group to leave the end point of the hike. The views from the point were awesome.