On our first day in Santa Fe we drove out to Bandelier National Monument.
The monument preserves the homes and territory of the ancestral Puebloans. They do have camping available within the area that makes up Bandelier National Monument but it would appeal more to people that want to do a lot of hiking. We were more interested in seeing the old houses in the walls of the canyon. We have been to Mesa Verde several times and have hiked to the cliff homes there but wanted to see the difference with these houses. The original houses that were built in this area were called Pit Houses and were largely underground. You could see down in the remains of some of the houses and see where they had ventilation for the fires they built. You had to enter the houses by going down a ladder. Eventually the tribes started building houses in the side of the canyon.
The land in the canyon and mesa was formed by an ancient volcano that covered the area with volcanic ash up to 1000 feet deep. It looks like sandstone but is actually the volcanic ash that has compacted over time into a soft, crumbly rock that is called tuff. Eventually it started to erode with some areas eroding faster then others so you get exposed areas that look like Swiss cheese, although Bruce said it looked like you were seeing into the inside of an ant bed with all the little tunnels. The ancient Puebloans enlarged some of the larger holes to use as houses and used some of the tuff material to build walls in front of the holes to establish their houses, these were called cave rooms. You could see windows, door openings and ventilation holes in some of the houses.
We loaded up my backpack and head out to hike part of the main trail that leads off behind the visitor center and takes you around many of the ruins and eventually on a hike up to the cave houses. Not sure why we thought this would be a good idea when it is over 90 degrees outside and limited shade on any areas of the hike, not to mention no breeze. Plus I have only been out of my walking boot for a couple of weeks and we forgot our hiking sticks (we put those in the truck as soon as we got back to the RV).
Bruce volunteered to wear my backpack and carried his camera. I wore my camera using my cotton carrier camera vest so both of my hands would be free. The hike would have been more enjoyable if it was October or November. We took lots of water breaks and rested frequently and eventually got up the side of canyon wall where we could look in the houses.
What we learned is that you really need gloves if you planning on touching the metal hand railing that they have put up in some areas to help you go up some of the really steep winding areas. You can see the metal railing in the photo below which shows Bruce climbing up.
You also need the gloves if you plan on trying to climb up one of the wood ladders to go in one of the houses, I have to take Bruce’s word for that as I did not climb any ladders. He said the wood was as hot as the metal railing. He was able to look in the house and take some pictures. Below is a photo of him climbing the ladder to look inside the house.
We eventually made it back down to the canyon floor and opted to head back to the visitor center and skip the extra mile you could go to another set of cave houses. It was interesting but definitely somethings that is better to do in a cooler time of year. They have a few guided tours that the rangers conduct but they don’t go all the way to the cave houses but we did stop and listen to one ranger for awhile while he was explaining about the farming and life in the canyon and on the mesa above.
Overall a good visit but we called it day after that hike. All I have to say is if I lived in a house in the side of a canyon I would not be visiting my neighbors as I have no desire to do all that climbing to get to the other houses. I also would not be growing a big vegetable garden up on the top of the mesa as again that is more climbing than I am interested in doing on a daily basis. Told Bruce he had earned ice cream as we probably walked and sweated off 10 pounds.