Hike to Pyramid Rock and Church Rock

We've been waiting all week for this!  Today we got to hike to Pyramid Rock and Church Rock, near Gallup, New Mexico.  The weather this week has been very unpredictable, and we have had daily forecasts of rain and thunderstorms.  Today was predicted to be the best of an iffy lot, so we tried to get an early start in order to beat any rainstorms that might develop in the afternoon.  Alas, our strategy was not to work perfectly.  However, we got a great hike out of the bargain.

The two buttes, and the trails to them, are located in Red Rock Park, a municipal park of Gallup which also boasts a large arena for rodeo and other events, a campground, and other facilities.

We found our trailhead, out back behind the arena and the stables:

Our first goal was Pyramid Rock, elevation 7,500 feet:

As we began our hike, we also caught sight of Church Rock, which is smaller and sits lower than Pyramid Rock, and which was our second goal:

Steadily rising from the trailhead, we continued to get gorgeous views of Church Rock in the distance:

The rock formations along this trail were unbelievable.  Here a lone tree perches above red and white sandstone:

On one of our switchbacks, we came out on a sandstone ledge, where one small pocket of soil supported plant life:

The park and hiking trails exist side by side with grazing land, and so, occasionally, we had to cross fence lines through wooden gates:

In places, the wind and water wore circular patterns in the sandstone:

In other places, erosion had left pink or white hoodoos:

Most often, a hoodoo was protected by its own capstone of harder rock, which was the case with this formation that lay higher on our climb:

Soon we were high above the surrounding landscape:

Some capstones seemed precariously - even unbelievably - balanced on their sandstone pillars:

As we neared the top of Pyramid Rock, Kathy encountered this sandstone outcropping with holes that, as near as we can surmise, must have been worn in the rock by smaller stones and pebbles that were pounded against the sandstone by raging river waters in eons past:

Finally, we reached the top of Pyramid Rock, and David had his "Nature Valley" moment:

Standing at the summit, we took a video of the 360-degree view that lay below us.

Having satisfied our peak desires, we looked east, spotting one lone juniper that reigned over the desert landscape:

We turned our focus on Church Rock in the distance - our next goal.  All we had to do was cross this landscape of canyons, washes and sandstone ledges:

Nearing Church Rock, we came upon first a relatively narrow wash that had been worn into the sandstone --

-- and then a larger wash, which we navigated by following stone cairns erected by the Youth Conservation Corps, which built and maintains this trail:

As we reached our closest point to Church Rock, the threatened thunderstorms closed in on us, and we threw our trekking poles aside, bundled up, and huddled in a protected area to wait out the rain and avoid lightning strikes.  Here is a video we took as the thunderstorm closed in on Church Rock.

After a half hour or so, the thunder and lightning passed, leaving us with a cold drizzle.  We continued on our hike down Slick Rock Trail (aptly named!) and caught this view of Church Rock as we turned to hike down the wash back toward our trailhead:

The trail was steep, but got greener as we descended into the wash:

The interior of the wash was a wonderland of vegetation, some turning color in the autumn weather:

Further on, the wash opened out and flattened before us, giving us a view of our destination:

We reached the bottom of the trail and turned back to take one last look at Church Rock, framed over the trail behind us and dimmed by the misty rain in the air:

This was a much more spectacular and scenic trail than we had expected.  The route offers many options, including a loop around Church Rock, which we would have taken if we had not been challenged by the thunderstorm.  We hope to return and explore more of this area in a later year.