Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument

We hiked at the Monument.  We had never been here before and are glad we found out about it.  We took at 3 mile hike into a slot canyon.  The trail continued and became steeper until you reached the top of a rock formation.  We opted to not go to the top but went as far as a slot canyon.  It was a beautiful hike. 

This picture and the following were taken as we drove to Kasha-Kutuwe Tent Rocks.

We took the Cave Loop Trail and half of the Slot Canyon Trail for a total of 3 miles.  The Slot Canyon Trail was very nice and it ends at the top of the rock formations.  We stopped at the end of the canyon.  The trail from there is too steep for us.

These formations are the tent rocks.

Even though you can't see them, there are people on top of this formation.  This is where the trail ends.

Over the years, winds and erosion have removed the dirt leaving the roots exposed.  We saw several trees like this.

Carol is entering the slot canyon

This cave was hollowed out by man.  You can see the smoke residue on the ceiling from the fires burned inside the cave.

We had never been to this park but we are so glad that we visited it.  It is a small park and only a small portion of the road was open the rest was blocked off.  When we asked why the road was blocked and were told staff shortages.  We didn't know if that because it was Sunday, staff was short-handed or they need to hire more people.  There were a couple of shorter hikes we might have taken but because of the road closure, we could not.

The national monument is on the Cochiti Pueblo Indiana Reservation and they had a visitor's center which we stopped at.

This is the Glorieta Southern Baptist Conference Center.  The land surrounding this conference center is beautiful.  I remember that mom, dad, and Betty come out here for a conference in 1966.

After Kasha-Katuwe we drove in the opposite direction to visit this place.  It contains the ruins of the Pecos Pueblo people who lived here before the Spaniards came in 1600.  When the Spaniards came, they claimed the land for Spain and brought Catholic friars with them to bring Christianity to the natives.

The remains of the fourth and final church that was built in this pueblo.

This bull snake liked the coolness in the shade of this wall.  I don't like snakes but this one was very calm and received a lot of looks and pictures.

Even though the friars tried to change the religious ways of the Pecos people, they continued to use the "kivas" for their ceremonial services.

We did not have time to visit the other part of this park because it was closing.  There was a Civil War battle in this area.  The Confederates were trying to gain control of the land around here in search of gold to help finance the war.  This building was here during that battle in 1862.  The Confederates lost the battle and there opportunity for additional resources for the war.

A full moon tonight. 
Tomorrow we pack up and move further southwest in New Mexico.  We only have 225 miles to drive so we will be leisurely packing up.