Making the Trip

You can get to the park from Santa Fe, but my trip was starting in Albuquerque so I decided to take the scenic route through the Jemez River valley. Sixteen miles from the intersection of I-4 and I-25 in Albuquerque you make a left turn onto highway 550 through the town of Bernalillo then drive about 24 miles and make a right turn at San Ysidro onto Highway 4, one of the prettiest drives in New Mexico.

If you have time there's a winery about 6 miles from the intersection, right before you enter Jemez Pueblo. If the winery is closed your first rest stop should be the Pueblo. Chances are you'll see a sign for somebody selling Indian Bread. Stop! Buy the bread and if you were smart enough to buy a bottle of wine from the winery, your picnic lunch is pretty well set. While you're in Jemez you might just want to make another stop and look at some of the finest Indian pottery in the Southwest. There are a number of internationally known, award winning potters in Jemez. But this trip is meant to get you to Bandelier, so just make a quick stop or two, the potters houses will have signs out front, look at the pottery, buy a piece or two if you see something you like and then keep driving north.

After you pass through the main village you'll come to an area of beautiful red rock cliffs. Across the road, on your left, is the Walatowa visitor center for the Pueblo. Make a quick stop here, or at least make a mental note to stop here another time. It's a good place to learn more about the Jemez Pueblo people. Beyond the Pueblo you will find yourself in a National Recreation Area. If you brought your fly rod along you may discover that Bandelier is too far away to make it in one day! The fishing is great along this stretch of the road and the scenery gets nicer by the mile.

About ten miles north of the Pueblo is the cozy little community of Jemez Springs. If you ignored my suggestions about the wine and bread, this is a great place for lunch. But, if you brought your picnic along, drive on north of town for a mile or so and, after passing the Jemez State Monument, you will find a bunch of cars parked alongside the road. They've all stopped to look at, walk on and around, take photos of and just generally enjoy Soda Dam. I'll leave this as a pleasant little surprise for you, but it would be an interesting place to have your bread and wine. But not too much wine because you've got a way to go yet to get to Bandelier. And, if you can't eat all the bread, save it for the best French Toast you've ever made. Slice it almost two inches thick, soak it in egg beaten with vanilla in the refrigerator overnight and bake it your oven till done. Serve with some black raspberry jam and powdered sugar and you'll come back to New Mexico just to buy Indian bread!

Along the way, about twenty miles from the dam, you'll see some roadside pullouts and there will be a sign or two telling you about the new Valles Caldera National Preserve. Save this for another trip but the view from the road is magnificent and assuming you were smart enough to bring your binoculars you should be able to spot a couple of elk herds in the distance.

Now you have only about 4 miles till you enter the Bandelier National Monument, but still about 16 miles to the "main" entrance. Alongside the road on your left you may see some official looking installations. These belong to the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and no admittance is allowed. But, who cares, the best view is on the right.

Bandelier National Monument

Now that you've reached the entrance you pay the fee, drive a few miles to the visitor center parking lot (you may have to wait up to thirty minutes to park if the place is crowded - they'll tell you at the entrance) and go inside and begin your Bandelier adventure. There will be Park Rangers waiting to answer your questions. If they're busy you can just listen to what they're telling the other visitors or browse through the books to learn about the park on your own.

Bandelier is an easy park to visit. In the Park Guide they give you at the entrance there are several suggestions about seeing the park depending on how much time you have. You can see a lot in an hour, but hopefully, you'll want to spend at least 3 or more hours in this fascinating park. And, if you have several days, that's even better. Remember those 70 miles of backcountry trails.

I strongly recommend spending $1.00 to buy the excellent trail guide sold in the visitor's center. The guide leads you through the 21 numbered stops on the one and one quarter mile trail through the Frijoles Canyon. Along this trail you'll see many of the things that Bandelier is noted for. The cliffs will get your attention immediately and the first man made structure you will discover is the Big Kiva. Kivas were an important part of this ancient Puebloan culture as they are still in contemporary Pueblo life. Used for religious activities, meeting places for clans and various ceremonies, they were usually underground structures with a ladder coming down through the roof. You'll learn more about them when you visit and will have a chance to enter one later on this walk.

After passing an unexcavated site you will come upon the village of Tyuonyi. There were about 400 rooms in this two story village. The circular village surrounds a large plaza where most of the daily activities likely took place for the hundred or so residents. As a member of this little community you would climb a ladder to the roof to enter your home by way of another ladder through the roof. You might have a turkey feather blanket (quite warm, by the way - you may see one in a museum in New Mexico), some pottery, woven garments and very few other items. The rooms are very small and utilitarian.

A bit further down the trail you will come upon a natural cave with soot on the ceiling, indicating that it was used by the villagers for some purpose and then you will find a number of cave rooms that have been dug out of the cliff walls. Some of these walls have been plastered with clay, either for decoration or, perhaps, to keep the walls from crumbling. These rooms apparently were used in conjunction with rock homes that were built in front of the caves. The remnants are still visible. And don't miss the Snake Kiva with plastered walls and a painted serpent.

Continue past the numbered stops, read the guidebook and soon you'll reach the Long House, an eight hundred feet long condominium style community along the canyon wall. Look for the round holes where vigas were placed to support the roof. Vigas are a very important part of adobe home construction in the Southwest today. When you get to stop number 20 if you will look above the top row of viga holes there are many petroglyphs carved into the stone wall. These drawings appear to represent animals, birds, humans and other objects, but we can only guess as to the real meanings.

Optional Trail to Ceremonial Cave

If you follow the trail you will be presented with an optional one mile round trip trail to Ceremonial Cave. Take it. It will take you about an hour, but you'll regret it later if you don't go. Especially if you have children. They will love the climb of 140 feet up four ladders to reach the top. And the reward at the top is a reconstructed kiva that you may enter. As you climb down the ladder into the kiva you will be reenacting the daily habits of the local residents of ancient times. The ladders are wide, sturdy and relatively easy to climb. Just remember that you also have to climb back down. I saw children as young as three or four making the climb and all were having the time of their lives. And the ones on top scrambling up and down the ladder into the kiva were having an experience they will never forget.

The walk back to the visitor center is enhanced by a number of signs which explain about the plants, animals and geology of the region. And, you're very likely to see the Abert squirrel with his sharply pointed ears and large white bushy tail. You can get close enough to get a good photo, but remember - don't feed the wildlife!