Leading up to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

This year is the 44^th anniversary of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. From news coverage we learned that over 500 balloons are registered for the event. Maybe that explains why we can’t find a place to park Colectiva anywhere near Albuquerque. A year ago we had booked space at the Balloon Fiesta Park in 4 days. Well, we thought we were done with our searching around this part of New Mexico and were ready to settle ourselves in for the Fiesta. But all our calls were m

et with responses that all parks anywhere near Albuquerque are completely booked – a lot of balloonists apparently are RVer’s as well. We managed to get one night dry camping at a remote park 20 miles east. We were able to get only water and 30 AMP service (new sewer) for Sunday and Monday nights at a park two cities north, and we had to nose Colectiva into the sight now a 300 foot narrow road that we had to back up for all those 300 feet when we left. Somehow we were able to get Tuesday night only in a park about the same distance north. And the rates, despite the distance from Albuquerque, are double what they should be. I apologize for the whining – on the bright side, at least were not parking in a Wally parking lot!

When I discovered there were more National Monuments not managed by the National Park Service than I was aware of, I went on the BLM website and found out there were 21. Nearly all of them are in western states. And Hazzah! About an hour north of where we were was Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. In the language of the Cochiti people who lived here for centuries, Kasha-Katuwe means chalk white cliffs.

As a BLM managed Monument it has no visitor center. It only has two parking lots (only one of which you can reach on a paved road) and two trail systems. But the parking areas are quite nice for being BLM managed – lots of picnic shelters that provide needed shade, restrooms and trash receptacles – in many BLM managed Monuments, even these amenities are often non-existent.

This Monument is simply a feast for the eyes. As we hiked our way all through the Monument we marveled at the spires, or cones, or hoodoos, or monoliths – all kinds of descriptive names come to mind. The Cochiti name for these features translates to “Tent Rocks”, and that name is more than adequately descriptive.

As we made our way to the remote parking lot on the gravel road, we came upon a half dozen coyotes hovering over some breakfast on the road. Of course the crunching tire noise on the gravel road sent them scurrying away, but it was an unexpected surprise.

As you weave your way in and out of the formations, you can’t help but remember geological features from other places. The hoodoos that were spires with cap rocks – many oddly looked a bit like ET – were very reminiscent of Goblin State Park in Utah.

The swirling sandstone sweeping around the formations brought back clear memories of The Wave formation in the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument. It was nice not having to hike 3 miles without trails to see these features, unlike The Wave.

All the other features brought back visions of other Parks and Monuments, although picking out one specific one would be hard. But having all these different formations squished together along one trail makes it feel a bit like a collage of geologically based National Parks and Monuments. It’s kinda like the Best of the West.

The best part of the trail system of was the Slot Canyon. Here we could have been in Dead Horse Canyon again in Vermillion Cliffs National Monument. As you climbed steadily up the canyon the base was often only wide enough for your hiking shoes. In those areas the walls of the canyon were so narrow that the Woman had to turn sideways in order to get her female hipage through.

After hiking in about a half mile or so the trail suddenly went pretty much straight up. The promised reward for undertaking this challenge was the overlook. The Woman decided she really could see the entire Monument just fine from where she was, and she didn’t need to climb another half mile or so. Luckily, she found a comfy rock to camp out on and gave me permission to continue on – and indeed I did.

It turned out to be more than a half mile, quite a bit more. But in the end it was worth it. From up here the entire Monument is within your gaze. By the time I reached the Overlook the solid cloud cover had broken up and scattered blue skies provided a spectacular backdrop. This Monument is really special.

An interesting aside – from the Overlook you can see the parking lot. If you remember me saying that the BLM managed National Monuments were relatively unknown by the masses. Well, I don’t know if it is because of the Balloon Fiesta drawing so many people looking for additional stimulus, or if I am just wrong in my assumption. Either way, I can’t tell if maybe this picture is the Disneyland parking rather than the lot of a BLM managed Monument!

Talk to you soon!