Tent Rocks and Cochiti Lake and Campground

The real name for this is Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, about an hour north of Albuquerque.  It was given monument status in 2001.  All I can say is it is a really, really WOW place!   I snapped pictures at a rapid rate.  I think you can click on a photo to see it enlarged.  This area is similar to the Chirichuahas in AZ in that it comes on suddenly.  No hint that there was such a remarkable place so near.  

We were advised by the campground personnel to arrive when they opened at 8:00 to avoid having to wait in line to enter, which "could take hours", letting one in only as one leaves.  We were there, 2nd in line waiting for the gates to open.  There were a few cars after us, but nothing like the case we were expecting.  We suppose that may be the case during high use times, as there are only about 35 parking spots at the monument.  

My goodness, what a spectacle!

There are 2 trails at the monument.  One is an "out and back" trail 1.5 miles each way, 600' rise; and the other is a 1.2 mile loop.  We decided to do them on consecutive days, since we were admitted into the monument on our senior pass.  (What a great deal!), and also because we weren't camped very far away.  'Regular' people pay $5 to enter.  The Slot Canyon trail (the out and back) took us about 3 hours total.  It is designated as moderate/difficult.  We saw little kids doing it easily.  There were a few challenge areas, though not many:

I have already paid for taking that picture.  The other loop trail takes you around to a small cave that we're told was scratched out by some energetic soul using a stick sometime back many hundreds of years.  Our advice would be that if you don't believe you can do the Slot Canyon, then do the Cave Loop.  But, if you do the Slot Canyon, there's no reason to do the cave loop.  There is no water available at the trail head, bring lots.  We each got by with our water containers, but were warned at the gate that we would probably need more.    

A few miles away is a 5.3 miles long earthen dam on the Rio Grande, with water sports and a Corps of Engineer built and managed campground.  The dam is one of 10 longest dams in the world.  A spectacle of itself!  It's called Cochiti Lake.  The directional signs could be better in my view, but we managed.  On line reservations are possible at recreation.gov.  With the Senior Pass it costs $10 a night, up to 14 nights.  There are several camping loops; we took the Juniper loop, #10, it would handle the largest of RVs.  There is electric on this loop, with water pipes at various points around the loop.  Some of the sites are pretty small, okay for class Cs.  There is a 'primitive' loop with no hook-ups, and a loop that has water and elect at each site.  Those are pretty well reserved far ahead.  We stayed 4 nights.  

From here, we plan to head to Amarillo, TX, the closest place that can fix our contrary Onan generator.  More later.