Tent Rocks National Monument

One of the most recent additions to the National Parks, Tent Rocks was not initially on our list of “ must see places “ but as we had a few days to fill before the big Albuquerque Pow Wow at the end of April; we decided to have a look.

The access instructions were a little off putting, we had to drive up through a pueblo, then the road quality dropped to gravel with a rider that it was not suitable or recommended for Rvs. However we gave it a go, taking it very slowly on the gravel section as it was badly washboarded.

Again the weather forecast was for us to be on the edge of a big cold frontal system which was dropping loads of snow up in Denver and some in Northern New Mexico. It had been cold overnight and it was a bit gray and threatening as we drove up, however a few flakes of snow greeted us as we poked our noses outside the Trek. We retreated to the Trek, had a warm drink and as the flakes seemed to be sporadic got togged up and headed up the trail.

The rock formations were 'well weird'.

Some even looked like the KKK turned to stone.



Millions of years ago, a volcanic eruption had laid down several hundred feet of soft rock. Later on these layers had been covered by harder rock. Now as erosion wears away the hills sometimes a little hard cap protects the softer rock beneath it and you get these tepee shaped formations.

As we climbed higher we entered into a slot canyon which eventually narrowed to the point where I had to turn sideways to get through.





There were some points where the hard rock caps had toppled down into the slot and were jammed across the slot, creating a roof and a feeling of doom as we ducked underneath, This tested Carol's claustrophobia but as she could always see the light she kept on going. But as the snow was still falling we kept our eyes on the sky. I am sure that there was no risk of a sudden flash flood but we were both conscious of the pictures and stories of people trapped and swept away in such canyons before.








The snow flurries kept up and as we climbed, we saw other hikers coming down just wearing fleeces and they were clearly wet through and cold. The danger of snow and rain was obvious and had been widely forecast but people still went hill walking without proper clothing. Still I am sure they all had their mobiles and were expecting a rapid rescue if they called 911. After all a woman had called 911 last week when the local fast food joint failed to satisfy her shrimp appetite and refused her any more!

The dangers were bought home to us
as the skies darkened and wet snow started to fall heavily.

As we got back to our RV park we had a couple of inches with snow still falling. We even lost our satellite as the dish sported a layer of the white stuff.