Tent Rocks Slot Canyon And Cave Loop

Tent Rocks Slot Canyon and Cave Loop CLOSED is a 3.1 mile heavily trafficked loop trail located near Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking and is accessible year-round. Length 3.1 miElevation gain 839 ftRoute type Loop.

queezing through two tall vertical waves of rolling white rock, I squinted my eyes as I emerged from the shadows and into a sun-baked, fossilized grove of gargantuan gnome hats that protruded up to 90 feet skyward from the solid earth. I was breaking out in a sweat, but every successive step I took resulted in my peeling lips spreading into an ever-growing smile across my reddening face. Sharing space with structures I would have never imagined existed in nature, my mind was open to whatever I was about to encounter next.

The Slot Canyon Trail is most definitely not wheelchair accessible. Show up early in the day. We showed up at 7:15 am, hiked the Cave Loop Trail first, and then the Slot Canyon Trail and ran into maybe 4 other people on the way up. But on the way back down, at around 9:30 am, the trail was already filled with 4-5 people every 10 yards. The Cave Loop Trail is 1.2 miles long, rated as easy. The more difficult Canyon Trail is a 1.5-mile, one-way trek into a narrow canyon with a steep (630-ft) climb to the mesa top for excellent views of the Sangre de Cristo, Jemez, Sandia mountains and the Rio Grande Valley. The first one is Cave Loop Trail. Cave Loop Trail is a 1.2 mile easy loop. Begin on this trail and it will shortly meet up with the trailhead, on the right, for Slot Canyon Trail. Slot Canyon Trail is a 1.5 mile one way trek through a breathtaking slot canyon that goes up to an incredible view of the cone-shaped tent rocks and the surrounding. There are two mail trails, Slots Canyon and Cave loop. If you're looking for the pics of people standing in narrow rock formations, that is Slots Canyon, which is the more difficult hike, 1.5 miles one way and a bit strenuous while Cave Loop is 1.2 round trip.

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.

Tent Rocks Slot Canyon And Cave Loop Trail

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.

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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.