Visiting New Mexico -- Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument near Santa Fe

Our friend Sue Baum, spending six weeks in Santa Fe taking pottery classes at Santa Fe Clay, was told not to miss the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks, so we happily went along on her visit. The directions from Santa Fe were clear and the distance not far, but we still managed to take a series of wrong turns (picture below). On the trip back to Santa Fe we got it right the first time!

Road Closed! Eastern New Mexico

Tent Rocks was worth the wrong turns we made before finding it.

Kasha-Katuwe National Monument, New Mexico

There were strange and impressive formations, a combination of rock and sand, variously eroded. Kasha-Katuwe means "white cliffs" in the Keresan language of nearby Pueblo de Cochiti. Layers of volcanic deposits alternate, the harder layers protecting the softer from erosion.

Some looked like aliens, in particular ET, had landed.

Kasha-Katuwe National Monument, New Mexico

We walked gentle trails (you can go much farther, we didn't) enjoying the plants:

tree cholla, Cylindropuntia imbricata

tree cholla, Cylindropuntia imbricata, wide open flower

chamisa or rabbitbrush, Ericameria nauseosa (sunflower family, Asteraceae)
The flowers will be yellow, later in the summer. 

shrub live oak, Quercus turbinello

skeletonplant (Lygodesmia grandiflora)

nightshade, probably silverleaf nightshade,
Solanum elaeagnifolium

the odd rock formations

and the views

some of them pretty incredible

As Sue's friends said, a must-see place.


Comments and corrections welcome!

References consulted:
Epple, A. O. Field guide to the plants of Arizona. The Globe Pequot Press, Guilford, CN.
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks Trail Guide, Pueblo de Cociti, New Mexico and U.S. Department of the Interior
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks Plant Guide, Pueblo de Cociti, New Mexico and U.S. Department of the Interior
USDA Plants database. plants.usda.gov (August 29, 2014)

Kathy Keeler

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