Los Alamos Part 2

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Another stop on the Los Alamos area is Bandelier National Monument. The visitor center is only about 7 crow miles to the south but with all the canyons in the area, the drive is about 16 miles from the lodge, made a much longer drive because of road construction on the road to the entrance. Even with the delay, we arrive at the main visitor center just after 8 AM hoping to beat the expected heat of the day.

Bandelier National Monument

It’s a large place with over 33,000 acres and miles of trails but the main reason for coming here is to see the cliff dwellings of the ancestral Pueblo people. There weren’t many people here this early so we skip the visitor center and head out on the Pueblo Loop Trail to see the cliff dwellings. It’s a paved path up the canyon. If done as a loop, it is 1.5 miles. At this point in the canyon, it’s about a half mile wide with very steep cliffs to the north rising up over 500 feet. We aren’t the first people up the trail but close to it. As we head up, we can see all sorts of openings on the side of the cliff wall and after a closer look, we see stairs, railings and people up in the cliff.

Large Kiva

Nearing the Cliffs

People are Up There

The stairs that lead up to the dwellings are from the Civilian Conservation Corps era and are still pretty robust with handrails to help keep people safe - nothing too scary from a climbing standpoint.

Looks Like Swiss Cheese

Vibrant Flowers

Ladder to Dwelling

There are wooden ladders into the openings the park department permits people to enter but most of the openings are not to be entered. I was surprised when Chris decided to try out the first one. It’s rather cramped in many of them. From this vantage point, we can better see the remains of the large adobe walls from the village that was on the canyon floor below.

Chris Found Her Tiny House

Adobe Walls Below

As we continue along the walkway and stairs, there is a lot to see. We were fortunate in our timing in that there were only a few groups of people ahead of us and some well behind us so we were able to take our time exploring what we found. The other, possibly better benefit, was that this early in the morning, the path along the cliff dwellings is in the shade. Later in the day, I bet these get very hot after baking in the sun.

Path Continues Along Cliff

View From My Man-Cave

Jack's New Cliff Dwelling

All along the cliff are smaller openings in a line a foot or so apart. These were how the people constructed their shelters that extended beyond the cliff. Small diameter timbers were fit into these holes to support the roof. The outer wall was made from adobe. Few of these remain but there was one that wasn’t open for entry, but was available to look in.

Inside Reconstructed Room

As we continue along, we check out all of the available dwellings and try to imagine what it would have been like to actually live in one. I’m pretty sure being tall was a detriment to living in some of these spaces. A few of the stairs to get past some of the rock outcroppings were rather narrow and steep and having a secure railing was appreciated.

Tight Staircase

Chris Checks Out Other Housing Options

There are an astounding number of old dwellings. Experts believe about 500 to 800 people lived here during its peak in the 1400’s.

High Rise Apartments Back in the Day

Cactus Blooms

We weren’t quite to the end of the path along the cliff, but had spent over 40 minutes exploring. The further up the canyon, there were fewer dwellings.

Datura Plants are Toxic

At one point we caught up with a group of 3 guys that were staring at the nearly vertical cliff at their part of the canyon. They were pointing at various spots and discovered that they were searching for petroglyphs. I’m guessing we would have walked right past them unnoticed.

Sheer Cliff Face

Spiral Petroglyphs

Some Sort of Animal

The trail then heads back down to the main path through the canyon. A left hand turn goes back to the visitor center completing the loop, but a right hand turn continues up the canyon to a place called the Alcove House. It’s another half mile walk but worth the effort. Chris had done some research in advance to know that the walk up the canyon was easy enough, but the climb up to the place was questionable. It’s 140 feet up a series of 4 ladders and stairs and she didn’t think she could do it.

Bridge on Trail to Alcove House

Raven

As we near it, we can see a few people high above and it did look a bit scary. Chris had seen a bench near the start of the climb and said she would just wait there. I convinced her she had to at least get to the first ladder before she chickened out. She managed to make it up the first climb but at the second one, she decided to head back.

Alcove House Somewhere Up There

Sturdy Stairs

And Steps Too - With Railing!

As I continued up solo, I’ll admit there were some steep climbs that were a little scary. However, the wooden ladders are very well built and sturdy so there was no concern about one breaking or coming loose from the cliff wall. From the base of the final ladder, I could see the alcove was quite large and deep so once there it looked safe.

Long Ladder Section

Short Ladder

Just Below Alcove House

It is believed that the Alcove House was mainly a ceremonial space with a kiva and a great view of the canyon. I spent a few minutes marveling at it all and could see Chris patiently waiting below. By now there were a lot more people arriving, so getting down all the ladders and steps was much more challenging. Why people find the need to get the perfect Instagram photo while climbing up a ladder while many others are waiting is a mystery to me.

Alcove House

Small Kiva

Small Rooms in Alcove House

With patience, I eventually made it back down and we took advantage of the shade to have a snack before walking back the 1.25 miles to the visitor center. On the way we found a few of the local animals and ran into a large group of visitors on a ranger walk. We listened for a few minutes before they started up the canyon. Since we had just seen this we opted to skip the rest of the talk and walk.

Meditating Squirrel

Lizard

The visitor center has a cute little garden out back with some of the plants native to the area. Inside we talk to a ranger about other hiking options in the park. Sounds like the Falls Trail is pretty but he warns us about the afternoon heat and also mentions that with the lack of rain, there will be no water flowing over the falls so it isn’t high on his list. While talking with him, another ranger comes up and says something about a road being closed from the McCauley Springs Fire. Turns out this fire is near Valles Caldera and while that park isn’t immediately threatened by the fire, the main road that gets visitors to the park is closed. Guess our visiting the caldera a couple days ago was a fortunate thing, otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to check it out. We ask the ranger which app he recommends for keeping up to date on wildfires since our travel plans might be dictated by fires or at least the smoke from them. He recommends an app called Watch Duty. Ever since then, this has been our go to source for keeping tabs on fires as we travel.

Visitor Center

Rocky Mountain Bee Plant

L:arge Timbers Inside Visitor Center

We head out to the car to grab our hiking gear and walk over to the nearby Falls Trailhead. Listed as a 2.7 mile moderate hike out and back hike with around 330 feet of elevation gain. We figure it’s not even 11 AM yet, so we should be okay for that length of hike.

Falls Trailhead

Tent Rocks

The trail starts out above the now dry creek bed but slowly descends and crosses over the creek a couple times before climbing back up. It’s a pretty hike with some shade down by the creek but very little shade up above.

Canyon Walls Along Falls Trail

We eventually make it to the viewpoint for the upper falls. Since there isn’t even a trickle of water, we likely would have missed it without knowing where it should be. The trail further down from the viewpoint has been closed because of a rockslide. We looked beyond the sign and determined it looked fine to us. We figured we would explore a bit more and we should be able to tell when the trail becomes impassable. It turned out we could easily see where the slide had occurred less than a quarter mile past the viewpoint. Now admittedly with the creek being bone dry, I suspect we could have safely gotten past the slide area but we opt to not push our luck.

Where the Upper Falls Should Be

Trail Looks Okay So Far

We Found the Rock Slide

On the return trip, we find a shady spot near the creek bed to enjoy lunch before continuing back up the trail to the car. With our additional section, the hike came in at 3.1 miles and 500 feet of elevation gain. We head back into the visitor center to check out the many displays we had skipped earlier in the day. It definitely was nice to have our two walks in before it got really hot and now we can enjoy the AC indoors.

Cafe and Gift Shop

"Storyteller" Doll

On the drive out of the canyon, we stop at a viewpoint we had skipped on our drive in. When we made it back to the main road, the construction was still in progress  and it took 20 minutes before the pilot car came by for us to follow out.

Overlooking Canyon at Bandelier

We followed the other route out from the park into the town of White Rock. Being less broken up by canyons, this town has a fair amount of residential areas and is likely the home for a large number of laboratory employees. We make a quick stop at a place called Overlook Point. This small park is nearly 800 feet above the Rio Grande River. We stopped mainly to find a geocache but found the park to be nice as well.

Overlook View

Rio Grande River

Falls

With two days left in Los Alamos, we plan to take advantage of a couple more hikes right in town. The Golf Course Loop is only 3.1 miles and just a few hundred feet of elevation gain. It looks like it circles the woods just outside of the golf course. It is also a biking trail but we hope there won’t be many cyclists out on a Thursday morning. We also have 8 geocaches to help motivate us. We parked at Loma Linda Park since there was one cache in the park and it looked like our intended hike was adjacent to the park. Turns out we couldn’t find the cache and while the trail can be seen from the park, it’s around 90 feet down a rather steep, rocky hill will no apparent path. So we end up needing to walk along the sidewalk to the trailhead.

Mural on Pedestrian Tunnel

Sometimes the trail was in the woods and we couldn’t see the golf course while other times we walked right by a green or tee box.

Trail Through Woods

Trail by Golf Course

At the far southern end of the hike, we need to pick some other trails to find the geocaches hidden in the Walnut Canyon area. This detour was the prettiest part of the hike and got us far enough from the golf course that we felt like we were far from civilization.

Walnut Canyon

Road into One Section

We managed to find a path to the caches we hoped to find. They might not have been the intended path but we got there nonetheless. Down in the canyon we did have a deer watching us intently. The climb back up out of the canyon was steep but at least appears to be a real trail. We eventually made it back to the main trail and to the trailhead where we still had the long climb back up to the car in the park. As expected, our detours upped the hike to 4.2 miles and just over 700 feet. It was a decent hike and we found 7 of the 8 geocaches we looked for.

We Are Being Watched

Our Path Back Up from Canyon

We had noticed another trail heading into a canyon when we did yesterday’s hike. We investigated and discovered the Bayo Benches Loop - a 4 mile hike with just over 500 feet of elevation gain. It’s sounded like a nice hike and now we know the proper place to park. We had seen mountain bikers yesterday so we were on the lookout for them as we head down the trail. In less than a tenth of a mile, still at the top of Bayo Canyon, we have a split. We stay to the right and head down the canyon on the south side. Both directions would work but after completing the loop, counter clockwise is definitely the preferred direction.

Bayo Canyon Split - Stay to the Right

The first mile of so of the trail is a gradual slope down. However the canyon gets deep fast, so it doesn’t take long before you are separated from the other side of the canyon by a 250 foot deep canyon. You feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere except for some pricey homes on the top of the canyon to the north. Possibly the most unusual thing about the trail are the deep ruts that make up the trail. They are barely a foot wide and but often a deeper than that. It’s clear that bicycles aren’t going to make it through many of the trenches without damaging your pedals.

Along the Trail

Single Rut

Double Rut

It is a beautiful hike down. The disconcerting thing is that our return portion of the loop is just 1000 feet across the canyon but it is totally unclear where the trail is or how we will get there.

Looking Across Canyon

View Down the Canyon

At about 1.25 miles into the hike, the trail starts to descend a bit steeper but nothing too bad. I was in the lead when I saw something in the trail 20 feet ahead of us. I froze and managed to get Chris to stop as well. Right in the middle of the trail is a rattlesnake laying in the sun. It definitely saw us but didn’t appear to be in any hurry to get away from us. Fortunately we didn’t need to resort to tossing sticks or stones and it slowly slithered down into the canyon.

Across Bayo Canyon

Rattlesnake Guards Trail

The trail finally makes it to the valley of the canyon at about 2 miles and is relatively flat and wide at this point. We can see a large rock formation with another canyon to the right of Bayo Canyon. Our trail follows up a steep and rocky section of this rock formation.

View of Overlook from Below

Steep Trail Up from Canyon Floor

It’s about a 350 foot climb in elevation in less than half a mile. After we make it to the top, we have a choice. Head west to complete the loop or head several hundred feet to the east to check out the view from the overlook we saw from below. We head to the overlook, both for the view and because there is a geocaches hidden there. The trail to the overlook is quite obvious but it ends 150 feet before reaching the cache location. The view is amazing but the path to the cache is a bit sketchy.

Overlook View

The Geocache is Out Along the Rocks

Chris looks at the route to the cache and says “nope”. I looked at it and said “sure, why not”! I hand over my valuables and start the approach. It was a challenge to safely get past the first large boulder but once past it, the rest of the walk was reasonably safe if I don’t slip. I cautiously worked my way to ground zero and spotted a couple of rocks that looked out of place. Sure enough the cache was hiding beneath them. I signed in and headed back. I found it interesting to look at this hike recorded on my Apple Watch to see that the short stretch out to the cache had higher heart rate than any of the climbs elsewhere in the hike.

Follow the Rocks to the Cache

The 1.5 mile trail back to the car was fairly easy. It was just slightly uphill and the trail is rather wide along the edge of the canyon so Chris is able to stay safely back from the edge. From this vantage point, it was quite easy to see the trail we were on earlier across the canyon. The hike ended up being 4.5 miles and just over 900 feet of elevation gain. Bayo Canyon was quite a beautiful hike and will become one of our favorites over the past year.

How the Trail Back Looks

Since we had started the hike just after 8 AM, we made it back to the lodge well before lunch. We really hadn’t had a chance to check out the Los Alamos National Historical Park’s visitor center fully, so we head there on our way back. There aren’t a lot of displays but while we are looking them over, we hear that there is a ranger walk and talk starting in a few minutes. Since Los Alamos doesn’t offer tours like the one we did when we visited Oak Ridge 6 weeks ago, a ranger talk would be about the best we can get. The walk lasts over an hour and fortunately the ranger has all of his stops to talk in shady spots around the grounds near the visitor center.

Los Alamos in 1946

That afternoon, we had some rain showers pass through the area and cooled things off nicely. The problem was that on our last night in town - Friday night, Los Alamos has a free concert at Ashley Pond. It wasn’t clear if the concert was to go on rain or shine, but since it is only a few blocks away, we packed some food and drink as well as our folding chairs and walked down to the park. When we first arrived, the band was getting setup on the stage under a roof but I suspect the band and crew had more people than the concert fans.

Band Gets Set Up on Stage

But as the band did their mic checks and tune their instruments, more and more people started to converge on the sloped grass area in front of the stage. The group was Dirty Modine - a classic rock cover band out of Albuquerque. They played for a long time and were pretty good. Best of all, we were able to sing along to every song they played. They wrapped up shortly after sunset and we headed back to camp to start putting things away for our drive into the Santa Fe area tomorrow. We really enjoyed our week in Los Alamos.

A Crowd Starts to Form

Rock On!

Sun Sets Over Ashley Pond