Cochiti Lakes

Sept 26     Albuquerque - Cochiti Lakes      75 miles     2 hours

We left Albuquerque this morning and made a couple of stops. Filled propane and ended up buying a Dish receiver box from the shop. The guy actually hooked up everything for us. Joe just had to call Dish and pay. So now we can catch all kinds of channels.

We're at Cochiti Lake Recreation Area. This place gets very busy so I made reservations for this place online. $20 per night for electric and water. They also have a dump station.

Cochiti Lake is located on the Rio Grande about 50 miles upstream from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Cochiti is one of the ten largest earthfill dams in the United States. It stretches 5.5 miles and rises 251 feet to impound the waters of the Rio Grande and Santa Fe River.

Sept 27     Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument to protect its geologic, scenic, and cultural values. 

The cone-shaped tent rock formations are the products of volcanic eruptions that occurred 6 to 7 million years ago and left pumice, ash, and tuff deposits over 1,000 feet thick. Precariously perched on many of the tapering hoodoos are boulder caps that protect the softer pumice and tuff below. Some tents have lost their hard, resistant caprocks and are disintegrating. 

We got there when they opened at 8:00am. We started on the Cave Loop Trail and continued onto the Slot Canyon Trail. Absolutely stunning rock formations. The natural geologic formation are so unusual and the hike up the slot canyon was absolutely amazing. We kept going because around every corner there was something amazing to see. Parts of the slot canyon are quite narrow and part of the climb is pretty much a rock scramble. It got to be a little difficult for us so we finally turned around. We ended up hiking a little over 3 miles. 

A squirrel sunning himself

Sept 28     Jemez Scenic Byway

We drove on the Jemez Scenic Byway today. 

Traveling on Highway 4, our first stop was the Walatowa Visitor Center. Across from the visitor center is Red Rocks, stunning natural scenery everywhere.  

Inside the church

The Jemez Historic Site was our next stop. It's one of the most beautiful prehistoric and historic sites in the Southwest. It includes the ruins of a 500 year old Giusewa Village and the San Jose de los Jemez church which was constructed in 1621.

A fantastic geologic wonder, Soda Dam is a natural dam that formed from a hot mineral water flow which deposited travertine and calcium carbonate. It is believed that the process began about 7,000 years ago. 

Jemez Falls

We had lunch at the picnic area at Jemez Falls. Then we started our hike to the falls. Much of the trail is surrounded by beautiful trees and rock formations. Then we see it, a 70-foot plunge through a narrow gap in the granite rocks. Such a beautiful site with the fall leaves surrounding us. It was a short hike but felt good to stretch our legs from our long car ride.

Beautiful fall colors

This drive was very scenic and a nice way to spend the day.

We went over 100  miles in the Kia.