We left Petrified Forest National Park after lunch and arrived in Albuquerque in the late afternoon. After checking in and cleaning up, we had a tasty dinner at Cocina Azul (The official question of New Mexico is red, green or Christmas? I opted for the green chile sauce), grabbed cookies at Golden Crown Panaderia, and went on a walking ghost tour in Old Town. It was a nice way to see Old Town, especially since everything shuts down early, and learn some local history and folklore.

We got an early start again on Saturday morning to be at Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument when it opened at 8 am (about an hour drive from Albuquerque). There is limited parking and waits to get in can be long if you don’t go early enough. We were actually there about 20 minutes early and there was already a line to get in. I’m glad we went early because it was a Saturday of a holiday weekend and super busy - but we avoided most of the crowds by hitting the trail quickly and being first up the trail (nobody on the way up, but did see a ton of people on our way down).

The hike is 3.2 miles round trip with 800 feet elevation gain (tops out around 6400 feet). It’s an easy loop with an out and back section that packs a lot in for a short hike. The out and back portion entails walking through a cool slot canyon and climbing to an overlook at the end of the trail that provides a great view of the park and the tent rocks. The tent rocks are neat features and this is information about their formation from the BLM website:

The cone-shaped tent rock formations are the products of volcanic eruptions that occurred 6 to 7 million years ago and left pumice, ash, and tuff deposits over 1,000 feet thick. Tremendous explosions from the Jemez volcanic field spewed pyroclasts (rock fragments), while searing hot gases blasted down slopes in an incandescent avalanche called a pyroclastic flow.

Precariously perched on many of the tapering hoodoos are boulder caps that protect the softer pumice and tuff below. Some tents have lost their hard, resistant caprocks, and are disintegrating. While fairly uniform in shape, the tent rock formations vary in height from a few feet up to 90 feet.

We made good time at Tent Rocks and found ourselves with time to spare before we had to be in Santa Fe for our entry time at Meow Wolf. We noticed a lot of signs on our drive in for the Santa Domingo Festival, so thought we would check it out. We followed the signs to the festival at Kewa Pueblo and were surprised to find such a large festival. There were over 300 artists, food trucks, and dance performances. We loved browsing all the beautiful pottery, jewelry, and artwork. We came across a young woman from Taos Pueblo with contemporary ledger art with an anime influence and a nod to native art. We loved her work and Norah picked out one of her pieces as a souvenir. Loved the unexpected stop at the festival! Now on to Santa Fe (~ one hour drive).