Rio Rancho

This will be the last post from this series. On our fourth day there in New Mexico , we decided to travel to the Tent Rocks or Kasha Katuwe National Monument. It was almost an hour’s drive from where we were staying. So we started our journey towards this beautiful place at around 10 am , after being served breakfast by the lady of the Airbnb place. Telling you guys again she is a wonderful woman.

A brief history and geography of ‘Kasha Katuwe’. The word means ‘white cliffs’ in the Puebloan language ‘Keresan’. It is located on Pajarito Plateau, South-West of Santa Fe, New Mexico near Cochiti Pueblo. It is said that humans have occupied these rocks for more than 7000 years. Distinctly in the 15th century, the ancestors of Pueblo Indian people lived there and they were the ones to name it. Now a days the tribal people of Cochiti Pueblo contribute and help manage this monument. They also have access to this place through tribal lands.

Source: My Phone’s camera (Kasha Katuwe from a front view).

The tent rocks are cliff faces of Peralta Canyon which are pierced by smaller canyons containing the tent rocks and that is why they have been named so.

Now that we are done with a brief history of the place, let me tell you guys about our day there. We took the Cave loop trail, which is a 1.2 miles long and you can get a wonderful view of Hemet Mountains, Sandia Mountains, Rio Grande Valley. I am sharing a few pictures that we clicked there.

A view of the comes when it is close to sunset during Winter.

The little grooves we had to walk through.

The view from the top- Sandia and Jemez Mountains.

The vacation was successful for us and the very next day we returned back to the Natural State- Arkansas.

On our third day, we solely spent our time visiting the Bandelier National Monument.

These monuments preserve the homes and territories of the ancestral Puebloans of a later era in the South-West. Most of the pueblo structures date to two eras, dating between 1150 and 1600 AD.

So much for its history:

It was an hour and almost 45 minutes drive from where we were staying at the time. One our way we passed through the White Mountains which truly resembled its name at the time. Covered with snow the mountains looked amazing .

It was a wonderful experience for me as I had never seen such a picturesque view.

Once there, we first went to the Visitor’s Centre .

There we chose the “Main Loop Trail” which took us almost 1 hour 45 minutes to complete. Throughout trail there are ladders you must climb to get into the ancient Puebloan houses.

I have posted here some pictures that we clicked while walking through the trail.