Bandelier National Monument

Our trip to New Mexico was really nice.  After we spent a day each at Petroglyph National Monument and Chaco Culture National Historical Park, we drove up into the mountains to visit Bandelier National Monument.  My mama told me that she and her family used to camp there often when she was my age.


Bandelier National Monument

The main part of Bandelier is in Frijoles Canyon. (That means Beans Canyon- isn't that silly?) The walls of the canyon are made of compacted volcanic ash, called tuff. The rock is really soft, which is why there are so many holes and depressions in the walls. The Ancestral Puebloan people used the holes as places to live- you can tell where they were because the roofs are blackened from the smoke of their fires.

Bandelier National Monument


My family did the Main Loop Trail. It's a bit over a mile long and you can buy a trail guide in the park's bookstore.

Bandelier National Monument

You walk through the bottom of the canyon and then climb about through some of the cavates in the canyon walls. Cavates are the holes in the canyon walls- they're like tiny caves!

Bandelier National Monument

Visitors can climb ladders into some of the higher caves. Here I am looking down from a cavate onto Tyuonyi Pueblo below. Wouldn't it have been a beautiful place to live? When the Ancestral Puebloan people lived here, they grew the Three Sisters- corn, beans, and squash. Yum!

Bandelier National Monument

After we wound past the ancient homes, the trail goes through a little forest by the Frijoles Creek. There was a big flood not long ago, so there were downed trees everywhere. There were also places where you could see big piles of brush all gathered up around the bases of the trees. The damage was so bad that half of the parking lot isn't usable anymore, which is sad.

Bandelier National Monument

At the end of the trail, I went back to the park bookstore. There, a friendly ranger swore me in as a Bandelier Junior Ranger. As always, I promised to explore, learn, and protect our nation's park areas. Bandelier was a great park to visit. I hope I can go back someday with friends. If you'd like to learn more about Bandelier National Monument, visit nps.gov/band!

3 comments

  1. Hi Inky
    It looks like you had another fun adventure. Those caves don't look like comfy places to live. I'm too prissy to live anywhere that isn't easy and comfortable. I remember learning about the three sisters when we went to the Roger Williams National Memorial. I've seen the corn trying to grow but never beans or squash - just the vines!
    Your friend, Susanna

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  2. Hello Inky,
    I love this photo, I'm glad you got to see the great outdoors by enjoying our national parks. As a12" GI Joe I'm glad to see the citizens of the country that I fight for enjoying the freedoms that my friends and I have fought so hard for. Friends like Stretch Armstrong, he stretched close to three feet trying to keep Al Quida from robbing all of us of our Freedom to walk through parks and enjoy nature. As the corn syrup drained from his over stretched arms he looked me in the eyes and said, "I'm going to that toy store in the sky Joe."
    So next time you're out wandering under that big southwestern sky look up and say, "thanks Strech, thanks for everything." it's the least we can do.
    Your fellow American
    GI Joe #17657

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  3. HI Inky! I love your blog. If you would take a look at mine and leave a comment it would REALLY make my day!

    readersworldweekly.blogspot.com

    THANKS!

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