Bandelier National Monument- Los Alamos, NM

In September of 2016 Chris and I went to Bandelier National Monument. From May- October the monument is only accessible by shuttle. So, since we went in September we drove to the White Rock Visitor Center and took the free shuttle.

 Bandelier protects 33,000 acres of canyon and mesa that used to be home to the Ancestral Pueblo people. It is said to have signs of human presence that date back up to 11,000 years.

Once we arrived at the Bandelier National Monument Visitor Center we purchased a map of the trails which had some interesting information on the things we would see during our hike. It was only $1 and  well worth it.

We decided to do the main loop trial which was a 1.2 mile loop through some of the archaeological sites.

The sign to the main loop trail 

Big Kiva- this used to be a communal meeting place 

Our first views of the cliff that used to be home to the ancient Pueblos

Chris ready to see some cliff dwellings

The walls of Tyuonyi Village

The best part was definitely exploring the cavates(cliff dwellings) that were carved into the volcanic tuff.

Rachel being silly while climbing into the first dwelling

I'm not sure that this statue was but I thought it was neat

Chris doing some exploring- this was the only room he could stand in

The ceilings of the cavates were smoke blackened to harden the volcanic tuff  and keep them from crumbling

View of Tyuonyi Village( said to have housed 100 people) 

Some of the dwellings have eroded so you can only enter if there is a ladder. 

It is hard to see but here are some ancient smiley face emojis aka petroglyphs

Beautiful flowers that surrounded the cliff

The hike back to the visitor center

We really enjoyed our visit to Bandelier. Our 1.2 mile hike ended up taking us about 2 hours. It wasn't a strenuous hike by any means but sometimes we had to wait for someone else to leave before climbing the ladders and of course we stopped to take lots of pictures. We  would love to go back sometime and check out some of the other hikes. Thanks for recommending it Sarah & Eric!


Have any of you been? If so what was your favorite part or favorite trail? Let us know in the comments below.