While all of you were enjoying windstorms (
), as well as Meet 'n Deet and some great hiking from the looks of it, we were visiting family in New Mexico. We mostly go to spend time with a young niece and nephew (oh, and my brother and his wife!), but we managed to squeeze in some short but interesting treks this time. If you find yourself in the Albuquerque area with only a little time, these are some great outings with both natural and human history in spades.
Our first trip was a 2.5-mile trail up Rinconada Canyon in the Petroglyph National Monument on the western side of Albuquerque, where we enjoyed sun and quite a lot of wind, along with nice views of the snow-glazed Sandia Mountains to the east. We then dropped by the visitor's center, where the ranger on duty recommended the Piedras Marcadas Canyon trail. While Rinconada Canyon felt more isolated and more like a "real" hike, we found that the shorter Piedras Marcadas trail provided better (closer) viewing of the petroglyphs themselves, even though it was sandwiched between housing subdivisions.
We even came across several resident jack rabbits, a species I haven't encountered since I was a child visiting family in Wyoming. They seemed fairly unconcerned by us.
Later we visited Tent Rocks National Monument - which turned out to be unlike anything we've experienced before. The trail starts out in a fairly open area, with few hints of what is to come.
However, before long the trail enters a narrow canyon...
...which keeps getting narrower.
A note in case you have small ones: this hike was great for my three-year-old nephew and would be great for any kids up until it climbs steeply out of the valley. My nephew was having so much fun that he couldn't stop beaming and chattering away to himself. I dubbed him the Happy Little Hiker.
We only had to crawl under one rock:
The views just kept getting more interesting, and more like the photos we've seen of more famous slot canyons in Arizona.
Before too long (maybe a mile?), the trail climbs a bit steeply out of the canyon, providing more eye-level views of some of the rock formations.
After a brief 1.5 miles, the trail tops out with views south towards the Sandia Mountains above Albuquerque, north and east towards the Sangre de Cristo Mountains above Santa Fe, and north and west towards the Jemez Mountains.
Hope everyone enjoys the desert views, for something a little different!
