HAPPILY BACK IN
SANTA FE
It's been awhile since we've been to Santa Fe. After setting up the "Tincan" ten miles south of town we drove in for lunch at our favorite restaurant, Cafe Pasquale's.
Not the most private of sites but plenty of mountain views and a short drive to the Plaza and hiking trailheads. The owner collects steam engines and old construction equipment. There is a very large solar array powering electricity for the RV park.
This location certainly doesn't lack for gorgeous sunset views. But this week we've had as much rain/snow as we have had sun. We took advantage of a sunny day to visit Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument located in the Cochiti Pueblo territorial lands. This is a terrific hike through a slot canyon up to a mesa with views of the surrounding land. There is also a scenic drive up a dirt road to an overlook that honors veterans especially the veterans of the Cochiti Pueblo.
These conical rock formations are the result of wind and water erosion. The rock itself was formed from a series of volcanic eruptions that took places long as seven million years ago. Layers of volcanic ash and rhyolite, sand and gravel have been displaced through uplift of the Rio Grande rift. More information: https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/tour/federal/monuments/tentrocks/home.html