Kasha Katuwe - Tent Rocks National Monument

Today we drove about an hour out of Albuquerque to experience Tent Rocks National Monument. It was impressive. There are tons of rock formations that look like tents made from ancient volcanic ash. The views were pretty unique and amazing.

Even the drive there was a cultural experience. We drove through pueblos and saw many people selling everything from tamales, to fry bread.

When we got there we found a map and saw that there were two trails. The first was rated "easy," a nice mile loop to see a man-made cave that someone lived in thousands of years ago. It was a nice little hike.

The second trail was rated "difficult," 3 miles round trip, a hike through the slot canyon to the top of this mountain:

So we decided to do that one too! We figured with a 3 and a 1 year old we would just make it as far as we could and then turn around. Boy were we surprised to discover that our sons are actually mountain goats! They did amazing! Our little 1 year old hiked all the way to the top. He refused to let us carry him, except for a few tricky parts in the ice at the top. It was so much fun exploring in the canyon and the view from the top was fantastic! It was worth it.

Coming into the canyon.

Ethan found this rock sticking out of the wall and thought it was a perfect chair.

We thought the exposed roots of this tree made a pretty fun tunnel.

Since we haven't seen much snow this winter the boys had to hike up every snow bank, which was great until Clark took a step and sunk down clear to his thigh while carrying Caden. He did manage to catch Caden upside down by his feet.

The view looking to the sky (hopefully not looking up my nose).

Stopping for a picnic break half way up.

We called this rock the castle.

This was where the trail got tricky. It was steep and narrow, and the melting ice made it really slick. At this point everyone passing us coming down made a comment about how crazy we were to take our kids up...we preferred to consider ourselves ambitious. After living in Iowa for a few winters the ice really wasn't too bad for us.

I loved these rocks behind Clark, they look like troll castles to me.

The boys at the top! It was windy, but the view of the surrounding mountains, lake and the tent rocks was spectacular!

Caderade and Momma at the top!

Caden got the MVP award for the day for being the best little hiker. We were amazed at how far those little legs could go.

I award myself with the biggest clutz award for dropping Caden when we made it to the summit. I was holding him for a picture and he wanted to get down, and I'm still not sure what happened, but I dropped him. I also slipped on the ice and fell, pulling Ethan down on top of me about 10 feet from the top. On the way down I slipped and fell again in a mud puddle while carrying Caden, which made for a cold bottom and a muddy view for all who had to follow behind me.

Ethan gets the comedy award for making us laugh the whole way with his commentary, and with his dog hat peeking behind rocks trying to scare us. My favorite line was when he was following right close behind my rather muddy behind...Clark mentioned how he could smell the stroller which was parked at the trailhead, and Ethan replied, "all I can smell is mom's bum!"

Clark gets the Louis L'amour award because he felt like he was in a setting from one of his books. He used his Louis power to get us all up that trail. At the end of the day he said it was one of the best days of his life, and meant it too.

Fun Family Memory.