Tent Rocks National Monument, A Day Hike Near Albuquerque and Santa Fe

Coming out of an awesome camping and hiking trip at Palo Duro State Park in west Texas, we made our way towards Santa Fe on our RV trip around America.

We whiffed on fun pretty badly in downtown Santa Fe. It seemed like a really cool city, but each of our stops weren’t kid friendly enough to let loose two kids that had been cooped up in a car for six hours.

We pushed west of Santa Fe to camp a couple nights at the dam near the Cochiti Pueblo tribal area.

We didn’t expect much from the stay, as it was just a stopover before pressing on to Sedona, but we found an awesome day hike nearby at Tent Rocks National Monument.

We had heard that Tent Rocks was nearby, but in our heads we had undervalued the interesting beauty and fun that the monument area could provide.

There are scores of unique cone-shaped rocks call hoodoos that look like tents (or teepees). Some hoodoos stand up to 90 ft tall and have boulders precariously balanced on the tip of the tent. There are also some Indian artifacts, such as a cave dwelling.

Here are some of the phots from our time hiking the trails around Tent Rocks, and afterwards a few tips if you’re thinking of day hiking the area yourself.

Tips for Hiking Tent Rocks National Monument

Location:

Website: http://www.blm.gov/publish/content/nm/en/prog/NLCS/KKTR_NM.html

Good Things to Know

The area is for day use only. There is no camping allowed.

Fees are required to access the area, but an America The Beautiful Pass will get you in for free.

Take your own water, as there is no running water. There are vault toilets.

We hiked the 1.2 Mile Cave Loop Trail with a BOB stroller. Not easy, but doable.

We did not attempt the Canyon Trail with the stroller. It’s more difficult and apparently very narrow in sections.

At the end of the paved road, there is a creek blocking the way to the gravel road behind it. If you have the vehicle to cross the creek, then do it. A few miles up that gravel road is an overlook of the Tent Rocks, giving a pretty good bird’s eye view of the surrounding landscape.