Red Rock Park, New Mexico - February 9th, 2026
Our friends, Dave and Sandy, invited us to join them on a two week camping trip down to Arizona at the end of January and beginning of February. This is the fifth post of our trip, as we were making our way back home. During our drive between Winslow in Arizona and Albuquerque in New Mexico, we stopped to go on a nice hike in Red Rock Park near Church Rock in New Mexico.
Monday, we drove from Homolovi State Park in Arizona to Bernalillo in New Mexico. We stopped about half way at Red Rock Park in Church Rock near Gallup. Red Rock Park was a state park from 1972 to 1989, but is now owned by the City of Gallup. There is a museum, rodeo grounds, and a campground, but we were there for a hike.
Dave and Sandy had discovered the park a few years ago. There are two main trails to choose from, the Pyramid Rock Trail and the Church Rock Trail. We chose Pyramid Rock.
The hike was gorgeous. The trail alternated between sand and slick rock, with steep steps through boulders near the end. The area is surrounded by colorful rock formations. From the top of Pyramid Rock, there are 360 degree views that extend for miles.
There is a connector trail between Pyramid Rock and Church Rock, but we decided not to take it since we still had over two hours of driving left and we were running out of daylight. By the time we returned to Red Tail, we covered 4.1 miles with an elevation gain of 791 feet which took us three hours and 15 minutes to complete. We counted it as hike number 4 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2026.
What a great find, Sandy and Dave. Thank you for sharing this place with us! Next time we’re in the area, we’ll have to check out the Church Rock Trail.
It was dark by the time we reached Bernalillo, north of Albuquerque. We had reservations at Coronado Campground, a city RV park. It was a cute little park, with hookups and stucco structures over the picnic tables at each site. Not bad for $35 per night. There is also a Coronado Historic Site just down the road from the campground, but we didn’t venture over there in the dark.
It was a long day, but we really enjoyed the hike. We should be home in two more days, so we can relax and rest then.
Check out our related video: Red Rock Park, New Mexico
(Ann)