Day 113: Jemez to Bandelier National Monument, MN

Good morning from San Antonio Campground near Jemez, New Mexico. We kicked off the morning with pancakes and then headed off in search of adventure. Our journey took us to the Volcano Discovery Centre at Valles Caldera National Preserve. We learned more about the history of this giant volcanic eruption that was 300 times bigger than Mount Saint Helens and produced an ash cloud that was 200 to 500 times larger. Of course this was all 1.25 million years ago but we got to appreciate the beauty of the caldera that was formed when the middle of the volcano collapsed inward. It is now a lovely montane grasslands meadow of lush green grass supporting an abundance of wildlife including coyotes and our personal favourite Gunnison’s prairie dogs. The boys explored the state of the art visitors centre and earned their Junior Ranger badges. Funnily, we ran into our tour guide from Mesa Verde - Ranger Hayden - in plain clothes in the preserve. He was on his day off doing some exploring of his own.

 

A lava dome in the middle of the caldera called Cerro La Jarra.

Boys taking their Junior Ranger pledge.

Prairie dog!

OMG prairie dogs are so cute.

Prairie dogs are also delicious. We saw two coyotes on the hunt in the prairie dog towns scattered throughout the caldera.

Our adventuring took us next to Bandelier National Monument. We dropped the trailer at our campsite #54 in coyote loop of Juniper Campground and headed into Frijole’s Canyon to check out the Ancestral Pueblo dwellings. The builders of these dwellings may well have come from Mesa Verde after its collapse. People lived at Bandelier until 1500 (about 200 years later than at Mesa Verde).  The brick Pueblo houses and kivas built at ground level are similar but the cliff dwellings here are a bit different. They are built into petrified volcanic ash (a soft rock called tuft), wherein they used a harder stone (basalt) to enlarge natural openings in the cliffs into manmade cavates. The cavates were mostly used as granaries while the people mostly lived in the brick pueblo houses built at the base of the cliffs or under alcoves higher up as was the case with Alcove House. 

This monument was self-guided so we hiked a loop along side many of the dwellings and got to climb ladders to explore the cavates and Alcove House. We have decided that Bandelier is a hidden gem within the National Parks Service. There were very few people here and the hike we did was a big pay off for relatively minimal effort. This is definitely a spot that should not be missed.

We climbed to the top alcove here. See the steps and ladders?

Person.

A macaw.

Pictograph of mountains.

Person.

Person? Monkey? Probably person…

Fish with legs? Bird?

Face.

Inside a cavate.

Large kiva (ceremonial space for men).

We kept a close eye on the nearby Frijoles Forest Fire that we passed by earlier this week. It is still burning. We could see the smoke clouds on top of the trees from our vantage point at the campground. Before dinner we played cards and then we had a campfire! No kidding. It is the first time in a long time that fires within a campfire ring have been permitted so we roasted hotdogs for supper. We were sure to thoroughly extinguish our fire so we don’t add to the wild fire problem in this area.

See the smoke over the forest? Far enough away but still burning.

Frijoles fire still burning in the distance.

We played a spirited game of cards before supper.

These were weird. We do not recommend.

We’re heading South tomorrow on a trek across New Mexico and then Eastward towards Texas. We’re in for some heavier driving days as we have some ground to cover on our journey to the Gulf of Mexico.