Bandelier National Monument & LANL

The Santa Fe Skies RV park has a steady stream of Airstreams coming through to enjoy the area. When we moved in last Saturday there were already 3 other Airstreams here. One was parked four spots down from us in the Marigold row. On Monday morning, Lou and Pat Santoro knocked on our door, introduced themselves as having that Airstream and asked if they could talk to us about our 30ft International Serenity model. They have a 30ft Flying Cloud and were trying to decide between an International Serenity, like ours, or a Classic model. They came in and we talked Airstreams and our experience as full timers.

Lou and Pat Santoro and their wonderful dog Sophie.

Yesterday we paid a return visit and they told us they had just put in their order for a new International Serenity. We also learned that they were from Los Alamos, NM, which is about 50 miles west of Santa Fe. Lou and Pat encouraged us to visit Los Alamos, it has a great science museum, and is located adjacent to the Bandelier National Monument. Today we drove over to visit Los Alamos and Bandelier.

The scenery on the drive over was stunning and we could see why when the top-secret Manhattan Project sprang to life in 1943, it came to this isolated , sleepy village and turned it into a busy laboratory of secluded brainiacs. Los Alamos has the highest concentration of PhDs per capita in the US, along with highest per capita income in New Mexico.

You can't actually visit the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where the first atomic bomb was conceived, but the Bradbury Science Museum has displays on bomb development and atomic history.

The Bradbury Science Museum was not named for Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451) but for Norris Bradbury, Los Alamos National Laboratory Director from 1948 - 1970. Humanity can trace some of its greatest achievements and darkest fears directly to this little town and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The LANL still develops weapons, but it's also at the cutting edge of other scientific discoveries, including mapping the human genome and making mind-boggling supercomputing advances. 

The Bradbury Museum was a tad sobering, especially on this Earth Day so moving outdoors to the Bandelier National Monument, 12 miles south of Los Alamos, lifted our spirits. The peach-colored cliffs of Frijoles Canyon, above, is pocked with caves and alcoves that were home to Ancestral Puebloans until the mid-1500s.

From the Visitor Center we took the Main Loop Trail the took us past numerous Ancestral Pueblo dwellings, petroglyphs and kivas, such as the Big Kiva above and...

here.

We walked up Frijoles Canyon past Tyuonyi Pueblo...

on the floor of Frijoles Canyon, which was...

inhabited at the same time as the...

cliff dwellings built along the base of the canyon walls.

(Enlarge the picture to see the ladders leading to the cavates.)

Short ladders enabled us to clamber into...

the individual homes.

Continuing along the base of the canyon,

we came to homes built from the rubble at the base of the canyon walls.

Looking back down on the Tyuonyi Pueblo.

Entering a 

cliff dwelling.

Further along, we approached the...

Long House...

a sort of apartment house of cliff dwellings.

Petroglyphs are carved on the surface just above...

the holes where the roof poles were inserted into the canyon wall. The speculation is that the people stood on their roofs to carve the petroglyphs.

This is my favorite - a turkey. The Ancestral Pueblo People did raise turkeys.

Continuing along the canyon floor we reached the Ceremonial Cave, poised 140ft above the ground and reached by climbing four long ladders. If you enlarge the picture you might see the people climbing the ladders at center left.

"What are we waiting for?"

1st ladder

2nd ladder - the longest

Alcove House

Going down

Alcove House from the valley floor.

Today's hike:

Length - 2.79 miles

Duration - 1 hour, 57 minutes

Elevation gain - 220 feet (24 floors on the Fitbit)

Aspen Vista/Black Canyon Trails

We chose what we thought would be a good trail for today knowing that it was at a higher elevation than Santa Fe - Santa Fe = 7300ft; Aspen Vista Trailhead = 10,000ft. Turns out, that's a big difference!

High elevation view of the Santa Fe Valley at the trailhead for Aspen Vista Trail.

We got some early clues about the trail - that's Frederick wearing his down sweater in near 40 degree temperatures. I'm wearing my winter parka and gloves.

Another clue was that the mountainside was not a bright green from the Aspen trees newly leafing out. And wait, is that snow on the mountainside?

We hiked for about a mile on a perfectly fine trail until we hit the snow-line. We've hiked on snow-covered trail before and it is not to our liking. What was supposed to be a seven-mile hike turned out to be only 2-miles as we retraced our steps to the trailhead and car.

Back closer to Santa Fe we found a short trail not too far from where we hiked earlier this week. Black Canyon was nothing exceptional, but it gave us our steps.

Today's combined hikes:

Length - 4 miles

Duration - 2 hours, 4 minutes (including lunch)

Elevation gain - 810-feet (88 floors on the Fitbit and Fitbit's Satellite Award for a 35,000-floor achievement. Yeah!)

Atalaya Trail

Atalaya (Spanish for "watchtower" or "height") is the ridge that rises just east of Santa Fe. The trailhead we chose is in the Visitor Parking lot on St. John College. A plaque near the trailhead states that St. John's is the third oldest college in the United States. It was founded in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1696 as King William's School. The Santa Fe campus was opened in 1964. Our tour guide on Sunday said that St. Johns curriculum is the Great Books. Students spend the first two years reading the early Great Books in Greek and the next two years study the remaining GB. Their final test is a 9-hour oral exam taken while standing.

From near the beginning of the trail, our goal, the ridge behind Santa Fe. Truth be told, we did not take this picture on the way up, we were too busy huffing & puffing. The trail description mentioned several times that the trail was steep - "short but steep". (It wasn't that short!)

We did make it to the top where we had expansive views of Santa Fe and... 

the surrounding area. About a quarter mile from the top, a string of ten hikers passed us going down. They announced that they were a Senior Hiking Club from Albuquerque.

Lunch view.

Lunch spot.

More views from on top.

Using the telephoto lens, I think this is a picture of St. Johns College and the parking lot at center right.

After coming down the upper switchbacks and the steep ridge line we turned around and took this picture. Right in the center of the picture is where we had our lunch.

And, another view from mid-distance.

One aspect of the trail that I found beautiful was the profusion of pink granite shot through with quartz. It was sparkly and elegant, for a trail.

Today's hike:

Length - 8.33 miles

Duration - 4 hours, 47 minutes (including lunch)

Elevation gain - 2,250 feet (228 floors on the Fitbit) 

Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks

A National Monument, and new to us, the scenic Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks was designated a Monument in 2001for protection of its unique geologic landscapes. The Monument is known for its light-colored, cone-shaped tent rock formations that are the result of explosive volcanic eruptions that occurred between 6 and 7 million years ago.

https://www.blm.gov/nlcs_web/sites/nm/st/en/prog/NLCS/KKTR_NM.html

There are three trails at the Monument and we hiked all three. (You'll need to click on the pictures to enlarge them in order to fully appreciate the beauty.)

Canyon Trail -

Entrance to the Canyon Trail where we got our first glimpse of the Tent Rock formations.

Heading into the canyon.

Just as we entered the canyon, there is a large ponderosa pine with roots that have been extensively exposed by water and wind over the years.

There were several spots where there was just one-way traffic through the canyon.

Wind and water have sensuously carved out this inspiring, miniature canyon that enveloped us as we emerged from the slot canyon.

The sky appears a deeper blue that provides a dramatic backdrop for the still-forming tent rocks.

The trail climbed out of the canyon to the top where we had some great 360 degree views.

It was great seeing the Tent Rocks from the top.

Great views of this group of Tent Rocks.

Back down through the Slot Canyon.

 Cave Loop -

From the Canyon Trail we turned right onto the Cave Loop Trail - and there's the cave! This cave didn't occur naturally, but was made by humans.

Continuing along the Cave Loop Trail we entered a Tent Rock "village".

Up-close and personal with a Tent Rock.

Tent Rocks forming on the edge of the canyon walls.

Veterans' Memorial Scenic Overlook -

From the trailhead of the Canyon and Cave trails we drove, very slowly, up a 3.5-mile un-improved gravel road to a stunning overlook at the Veterans' Memorial.

The Santa Fe Range in the Sangre de Christo Mountains are the snow-covered peaks in the background. The Cerros del Rio, with the Rio Grande at the base of the ridge below.  

On the way back down to the trailhead, we had a back view of the ridge 3 pictures above.

Hundreds of Tent Rocks!

Today's combined hikes:

Length - 4.77 miles

Duration - 2 hours, 55 minutes

Elevation gain - 680 feet (68 feet on the Fitbit)