After leaving Bandelier National Monument, we took a slightly perilous side trip to Kasha Katuwa Tent Rocks National Monument. The driving was interesting...Jane looked up and out toward where we were heading and said "One does not simply drive into Mordor!" the wind was incredible and the storm was looming, but we persevered, and it was worth it. As we entered the park, the man at the gate said the rain would not amount to much, and he was right. The weather was actually very warm as we hiked through Tent Rocks. This was another area that was formed by volcanic activity, but the landscape was very different. In the layers of tuff, it was very easy to see the type of particulates that were spewed from the volcano. The tent-like formations were formed because parts of the harder upper layer remained (visible as "cap stones" on top of the "tents") protecting the softer layers below from erosion. This park also contains a slot canyon, the first we have visited so far. Slot canyons are formed when water erodes a narrow path in the rock over time.
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| Driving into the storm, Very windy. |
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| Mr. Barnes in the slot canyon |
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| Hard rock on top of the softer tuff |
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| Bands in the rock tell the story of the varioun eruptions that created the tuff |
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| The occasional big rocks thrown from the volcano. |
In the evening, we continued on to Albuquerque. (Could you hear Jane and Anna singing along with "Weird" Al Yankovich as we crossed the city limits?)
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