I thought they promised an escalator!

Living in the volcanic ash cliff-sides that is now Bandelier National Monument seems so romantic when sitting inside a cave on a beautiful warm spring afternoon. The reality, according to the $2 brochure, was much tougher.

Geologically, ringing the entire area is a 14-mile wide volcanic caldera. Just below that, occupying the middle of the caldera, is a mesa made up of a thick layer of compressed volcanic ash, called tuff, 1000s of feet thick. The tiny Frijoles Creek carved out the impressive canyon through the middle of the tuff layer leaving behind the steep white and pink cliffs.

As early as 11,000 years ago, people known as the Ancestral Pueblo people, lived in the Frijoles Canyon. At first, they migrated in and out of the canyon, however, they eventually put down roots and built a settlement, farmed maize, practiced their religion, and developed a culture. Besides the incredible cliff dwellings, they built a circle of buildings on the canyon floor. In its heyday during the 1400s, the canyon settlement numbered 550. Life was harsh with life expectancy averaging only 35 years. They just disappeared some 450 years ago.

Bandelier National Monument is actually the inside circle of a giant volcano caldera. The white and pink-orange rock is compressed volcanic ash, called tuff. Creeks have carved up the tuff into deep canyons.

Ruins from the ancient settlement. The round holes were foundations that housed underground structures for both religious practices and education. The depiction shows how the settlement originally looked.

Beautiful and historic Bandelier National Monument was everything I had heard about. We trekked two trails on either side of the park for a total of 6 miles. The highlight, of course, were the cliff dwellings. I loved the fact that rustic ladders were set up to allow hikers to go up and experience the cave rooms. One cave dwelling, 140 feet up, required a series of long ladders to reach. The view was what you’d expect from such a great perch - fantastic.

This area, about 40 miles northwest of Santa Fe, is in the Jemez Mountains. Again, drive a couple of miles and the mountains take on different characteristics from scrub vegetation, to desert cactus, to ponderosa pines, making it all magical.

On our way back to Santa Fe, we drove down mountainous Highway 501 on our way to Los Alamos. Suddenly, a military security check point popped up. My drivers license was given a once over and then a list of do’s and don’ts was given to us, with many more don’ts than do’s.

The Los Alamos research zone, where the atomic bomb was invented, is still alive and well. In fact, it is a giant high-tech defense research laboratory sucking in 3 billion dollars per year of tax dollars. That’s not counting the secret dark money that may, or may not, be funding this super-secret facility.

The city of Los Alamos is a normal city, however it didn’t incorporate the adobe style of architecture like most New Mexican towns. I stopped at the Bradbury Science Museum. It is free, but temporarily closed due to COVID.

We were in for a surprise when we pulled up to our gate. We had an eviction notice, giving us until noon tomorrow to vacate. I found the campground host to inquire as to what gives. The husband and wife host couple were two of the most wonderfully accommodating people you could imagine. They saw from my ticket that we were paid through Monday and promised to get down to the bottom it. Can’t wait to see how it all turns out tomorrow.

Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work.

Dave and Wanda

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