Balloon Rally

More than 100 hot air balloons filled the sky over Red Rocks State Park near Gallup, NM the first weekend in December. Everywhere you looked were bright colors and bold designs floating over the already beautiful landscape!

Church Spires rock formed the background to views of the hot air balloons as they rose above the valley just outside Gallup, NM.

Balloons used the warming sandstone cliffs to help lift up out of the valley of Red Rocks State Park.

Spectators at the balloon rally could climb a trail to the top of the red sandstone cliffs for a close up view of the balloons. Some of the pilots “dragged” their baskets up the sides of the cliffs to really get in touch with the spectacular landscape!

Once the balloons started rising around us at the Red Rocks rally, we had to remember to look up from the activity near the ground to see their colors being lit up by the sun as they rose in the cold desert air.

This yellow balloon contrasted nicely with the bright blue ski, orange sandstone rock, and setting moon.

Balloons started taking to the sky by about 7:30am the last morning of the Red Rocks balloon rally. The noisy “whoosh” of the burners contrasted with the silent, graceful assent of each balloon once the started to rise.

Inflating a hot air balloon on a chilly morning first requires a large fan to blow air into the balloon before it can stand upright. Then the pilot can start using the burners to finish inflating and launch off the ground.

We arrived at the final morning for the Red Rocks balloon rally in Gallup, NM just before sunrise in frigid conditions (17 degrees!), but had the reward of seeing the sun’s first light turn the rock cliffs bright orange as the moon began to set behind them.

The Red Rocks balloon rally at Gallup, NM on the first weekend of December featured a spectacular “Evening Glow” event where the balloons inflated but stayed on the ground. Lighting up their burners made them glow in the dark and kept the balloons standing upright.

Hot air balloons inflated for the “Evening Glow” event at Gallup, NM, but stayed on the ground after dark.

This shot juxtaposes three elements of the Red Rocks balloon rally’s “Evening Glow” event — a burning bonfire, Apache dancer, and hot air balloon.

This dancer from the Apache tribe was one of four circling around a large bonfire at the Red Rocks Balloon rally’s “Evening Glow” event. Four Navajo women also danced with waving ribbons that evening.

The intense hot air balloon with a fractal design kept changing colors as the pilot turned on and off the flames in the basket.

The “Evening Glow” event at the Red Rocks balloon rally opened with giant fans used to start inflating the balloons.