Hiking at Tent Rocks

We are trying to take advantage of the neat things to do in and around Albuquerque so went for a fun little hike this past weekend at Tent Rocks National Monument. It is a little under an hour from Albuquerque and right next to a little lake, which we didn't realize-so next time we are bringing our swimming suits! It is called Tent Rocks because there are rock structures that are in the shape of cones or "tents". You can kind of see them in the picture below.

It is just a short little hike, probably about 3 miles if you hike the whole thing, which we did not because Ethan was ready for his nap. But we hiked about 2 miles and it was awesome! We went on one of the legs called Slot Canyon and it was so cool, we were literally sandwiched between two walls for a lot of it. Ethan was a great hiker and walked/ran most of the way. We got several comments from parents carrying older children and we just said that we had started training him young when he actually wanted to walk!

You can see the sides of the canyon in some of these shots.

We were amazed at the conditions the trees were able to grow in. This tree below started to grow before the ground was washed out from under it. Its roots somehow became super strong and are holding it up! Pretty crazy!

Trent kept climbing everywhere and Ethan just wanted to follow him.

 Being a trooper and even carrying his own water! ;)

The token picture of me. I guess that's what I get for carrying the camera. 

Next time I'll make Trent do it more.

Here you can kind of see how narrow the path got sometimes, 

and sometimes it was even smaller and we were squeezing sideways!

Showing off muscles and taking a water break.

 They wore themselves out so much that they crashed on the bed together! 

I ♥ my boys!