Vera is back and we are just enjoying this spot, taking a few day trips. We are 30 minutes south of Santa Fe; and 45 minutes north of Albuquerque. This is just a really lovely Corp of Engineers campground.
Today we went down the road thru the Pueblo de Cochiti and on to Tent Rocks National Monument.
We took a short hike of 1.2 miles BUT there was maybe a couple hundred feet elevation climb. The cone shaped tent rocks are the result of numerous erosion processes in a 1000 foot thick layer of volcanic 'tuff' and pumice. The ash layers are from a nearby volcano of centuries ago; they are very soft (ash) that is capped by a much harder layer of rock that serves to protect the layers below. But over time much has disolved away, leaving these cone shapes of very light colored tuff with one or more boulders balanced on top. The cones are very uniform in shape but range in height from a few feet to almost 100 feet .... all with big rocks balanced on top. When enough erosion occurs to unseat the top rocks, then the whole cone disintegrates into a mound of pebbles and sand.
Tomorrow we are going back into Santa Fe to explore the Plaza.
Later, Marilyn
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