Special Features
Cone-shaped rock formations form one of New Mexico's most unusual vistas, and the Monument's archeological sites reflect 4,000 years of human occupation.
Six to seven million years ago, volcanic eruptions spewed rock and ash-sometimes 400 feet thick-for hundreds of miles across the Pajarito Plateau. Wind and water wore into these deposits, creating canyons and arroyos that are today part of the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument.
"The Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument represents much more than the protection of a special place. It shows our ability to work together for the sake of future generations."
--Edward Sullivan, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, January 18, 2001.Major Threats
Visitor impacts. The area is accessed by one very popular main trail. Visitors sometimes vandalize cultural sites or geological resources by removing artifacts or rocks or defacing areas, and illegal off-road vehicle use can be a problem.
More about Kasha-Katue Tent Rocks
Six to seven million years ago, volcanic eruptions spewed rock and ash-sometimes 400 feet thick-for hundreds of miles across the Pajarito Plateau. Wind and water wore into these deposits, creating canyons and arroyos that are today part of the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument.
Tucked into the steep cliffs of Peralta Canyon are the "tent rocks,"' cream-colored cones of pumice and volcanic tuff which range in height from a few feet to 90 feet and are crested with erosion-resistant cap rocks. Wind and water have carved openings of all shapes and sizes in the rocks and contoured the ends of the ravines and canyons into smooth semi-circles. Visitors can explore dozens of narrow slot canyons around the tent rocks. Scattered through the cliff deposits are fragments of obsidian or volcanic glass called "Apache Tears."
Growing in the gray, muted rocks of the tents are bright green leafed, red-barked manzanita shrubs; the sturdy imports from the Sierra Madre of Mexico cling to crevices and cracks in the rocks and, in the spring, form blankets of small pink blossoms. A sprinkling of Indian Paintbrush, Apache Plume, Rabbit-brush and Desert Marigold colors the somber grays of the rocks. Red-tailed hawks, kestrels, violet-green swallows and Western bluebirds soar overhead, using nearby terrain covered with pinion and ponderosa pine for food and shelter.
Planning for the Protection of Kasha-Katuwe
The BLM began its planning process for the Monument in 2003. Fostering public participation in the plan's development and addressing travel management issues will be priorities for the conservation community.
Human History Amid the Tent Rocks
Long after the tent rocks were formed, early humans wandered the area in search of food. Archeologists have discovered artifacts from the Archaic Period (5000 BCE to 100 CE) including petroglyphs of animals, handprints and stick figures. By 500-800 CE more settled tribes moved in, then left behind remnants of small, one-room structures and evidence of corn and bean planting.
Stone and mud dwellings gave way, during the 14th and 15th centuries, to the more complicated pueblos of the Tsankawi and Puye areas to the north of the monument. Ruins of several large ancestral pueblos remain. Descendents of these early tribes, the Pueblo de Cochiti, still inhabit the Monument area. Kasha-Katuwe is the Cochiti name for the area and means "white cliffs" in Keresan, the traditional language for the Pueblo de Cochiti.
The Spanish explorer, Don Juan de Onate, traveled the area in the 16th century as he investigated the northern reaches of the Rio Grande for the Spanish Crown. In the late 18th century, families began moving to the area, claiming land grants from Spain. The incursion of the railroad in the 18th century brought more settlers, as well as miners and loggers; remnants of this part of human history are scattered throughout the Monument. Today, in conjunction with the Pueblo de Cochiti and the people of Sandoval County, the Bureau of Land Management oversees the Monument.
