A hot ticket: Find out what you need to do to visit Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument

After a hiatus that lasted more than four years, Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument is once again open to the public.

The monument initially closed as part of the COVID shutdowns that were widespread throughout the state beginning in March 2020. However, that initial closure provided the chance for a much-needed reset at Tent Rocks, which didn’t resume operations until Nov. 21 of this year.

A hot ticket: Find out what you need to do to visit Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument

“We closed it for the pandemic specifically at that time. But during the closure, we took that opportunity to start discussing (with Cochiti Pueblo) what we wanted future operations of the area to look like,” said Jamie Garcia, public affairs specialist for the Bureau of Land Management.

Prior to the pandemic, Tent Rocks was a wildly popular attraction — almost to a fault. Located on the Pajarito Plateau with elevation ranging from 5,570 feet to 6,760 feet above sea level, the monument is a unique geological marvel. The cone-shaped tent rock formations, which can range from a few feet to 90 feet in height, are a product of volcanic eruptions that occurred 6 to 7 million years ago and left deposits of pumice, ash and tuff that were more than 1,000 feet thick. Weathering and erosion helped to create the unique shape of the rocks over time.

“So initially when we did our resource management plan back in 2007, we had analyzed for this area that the visitation would be around 50,000 (people annually),” Garcia said. “And everybody started really loving the place, and it started to get a little bit overloved. Right before we closed … we were averaging about 130,000 visitors (annually) at its peak.

“… The visitors were waiting at the fee booth, sometimes for hours, just idling in their car, just sitting there. Or they were trying to park along the sides of the roads, just overcrowding the trails,” Garcia added. “So trying to alleviate those situations is the route that we were trying to take and really thinking of it holistically for the visitor experience, the resource protection, as well as the gateway community of Pueblo de Cochiti — because they experience everything that is coming in through their community as well.”

With the new agreement in place, the Cochiti Pueblo is now in charge of the day-to-day operations, while the BLM handles management and project decisions.

To help alleviate overcrowding at Tent Rocks, visitors must now make reservations through recreation.gov. Once there, a BLM ticket reservation can be purchased for $5. Youth under 16 years old can enter for free, but still must make a reservation. Additionally, visitors will need to purchase a Cochiti Pueblo Tribal Access Pass ($20 for ages over 16; $10 for ages 2-16) before entering the monument. It’s best to purchase the BLM reservation first, and then users will be directed to the Tribal Access Pass link during the transaction.

When a reservation is secure, visitors are required to check in at the Cochiti Visitor Center, where they will be guided into the monument by a pilot car. This vehicle will help keep people from unintentionally straying into areas where they aren’t supposed to be.

“We implemented that pilot car so people stay on track and don’t park in between our pueblo and the monument and wander off into other sacred areas,” said Cochiti Pueblo Lt. Governor Jude Suina.

As far as the trails themselves, they remain largely the same as they were before the Tent Rocks closure.

“We’ve been getting everything in tip-top shape,” Garcia said. “So you probably won’t see a ton of major changes on the trails other than maybe, when we’ve had flash floods and things like that, you’ll see some of that has washed away some of the sediment in the area.”

While the monument had something of a soft reopening in November, it will still observe what will be an annual seasonal closure going forward through Jan. 31, 2025.

“That was the just part of the original plan that we came up with when we were negotiating with the BLM was to close during this time,” said Cochiti Pueblo Governor Joel Arquero. “So next year, we’ll close at the same time again … And that’s just to maintain again and (do) whatever we need to do to just make sure trails are OK and not overrun.”

Early returns have been positive as guests adjust to the new policies regarding access to the monument.

“The very first day we had some folks that didn’t even realize they were coming to the monument on the first day that we were reopening, and they were just in awe,” Garcia said. “So it’s a spectacular place. We hope that we can continue down this journey to provide really great visitor services and a really spectacular geologic location for everybody to come and visit.”

Added Suina, “We’re just glad that people are respecting the decisions we made and how we’re choosing to run the monument now … As a tribe, we’re excited to reopen.”