Tent Rocks

After over a week of boondocking at the Balloon Fiesta, we spend several days at the Cochiti Lake Army Corp of Engineers campground.  It was a comfortable concrete site with 30amp electric and water hookups. A bargain at $10/da (with senior discount).

 We visited nearby Santa Fe twice, but did not do much of  the tourist-type of exploring.  We simply walked the old town area taking a few pictures and did some shopping to resupply our pantry.

 

 The St Francis of Assisi church.

While at Cochiti Lake we also visited the nearby Tent Rocks National Monument.  The monument, in addition to its unique rock hoodos, is considered a spiritual place by native americans.

There are two short trails in the monument.  We picked the more difficult 1.5 mile slot canyon trail.  The slot canyon required several scrambles over rock obstructions and a climb of about 600feet.

 Trees cling to life in the washed out canyon.

 One of the many rock scrambles.

The canyon narrows in several places, but was dry.

Not an easy climb for two people in their seventies.

The view from the top made it worth the effort.  You can see Cochiti Lake in the distance to the north.

After several days at Cochiti we broke camp and headed north toward Farmington, New Mexico.