17 Sep: Between Santa Fe and Albuquerque we stopped at Tent Rocks. For a relatively short hike of three miles, this rewarded us with some fabulous scenery. The same thick volcanic tuff that we saw at Bandelier has been eroded here into the teepee-shaped cones that give the monument the English part of its name. Kasha-Katuwe means white cliff in one of the local Native American languages. The conical formations resulted because they are topped by small capstones that are more resistant to weathering than the softer tuff below. Some of the tent rocks can be seen from below at a distance, but after hiking through a narrow slot canyon the trail climbs among and then above the tent rocks to the top of a ridge with views of distant mountains.
