Exploring Bandelier National Monument

Jack and I arrived in Santa Fe a few days ago after car problems stranded us in Shreveport, Louisiana for three days.  We drove overnight through Texas and arrived early the next day.  It's taken several days for us to acclimate to the altitude and we've pretty much stayed close to our new "home" during that time.  The house we rented is an adobe home in an historic neighborhood.  It has a beautiful patio that is a great place to sit and enjoy the sun and warm weather so we did a lot of that. We took a walk around town, found a yoga studio, and explored our neighborhood a bit. Yesterday, we felt like we were ready to get out into the great outdoors so we decided to head out of the city and explore Bandelier National Monument.

Bandelier National Monument is located about 40 minutes outside of the city of Santa Fe which made it an easy day trip for us.  Most of the trip is highway driving but there are some parts of the drive with steep drop offs on the side that were a little scary to me.  (Of course, I'm a terrible passenger in a car so it doesn't take much to scare me!)  The scenery is beautiful which makes up for a lot.

What makes Bandelier so special is that there is evidence in the area of human activity dating back more than 10,000 years.  The canyon and mesa area was formed by violent eruptions of the Jemez Volcano more than a million years ago that spread volcanic ash up to 1,000 feet thick over a 400 square mile area.  Over time, the volcanic ash compacted into soft, crumbly rock that erodes easily.  Ancestral Pueblo people used tools to enlarge some of the small natural openings to make dwellings in the cliff face. 

It is an easy hike on a paved path to reach the cliff dwellings.  Even though it was Sunday afternoon, the place wasn't swarming with people so Jack and I could take our time climbing into the cave rooms which are called cavates. 

I really wanted to climb into the cavates but thought that I might not be able to go through with it due to my fear of heights.  Or, I should probably say my fear of falling.  Going up is always fine, it's just coming down that is hard for me.  My girls still tease me that the only reason I was able to get down the Chichen Itza pyramid in Mexico was that there was a girl more terrified than I was and I had to help her climb down.  Which is actually true.  Otherwise, I might still be sitting on the top of the pyramid with my back pressed against the wall!  I try and conquer my fear whenever I can but sometimes it's a slow process and I hate to go through all of that angst in a crowd of people.  Jack is really patient and will always stand by to talk me through it which is nice.  Since the park was quiet I was able to take my time climbing the ladder up into the cliff rooms.   

There is not a lot of room inside the cliff dwellings as you can see by the picture of Jack who is sitting inside one of the cavates.  His head is almost touching the ceiling even while sitting. They were so small that I was afraid to go inside while Jack was in there so we took turns.

One of the dwellings had several small rooms and Jack took a picture of me sitting in what seemed to be a window.  I was so pleased that I was able to climb up there - and get down without crying. 

 

Later, we walked along the stream and looked at the ruins of what was once a thriving city on the mesa.  It was a great afternoon and we hope to get back to Bandelier and do some more exploring before we leave Santa Fe.