Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico

Every visitor to New Mexico should drive the route from I-25 at Bernalillo through San Ysidro (turn on NM4 here), up the redrock canyon past Jemez Pueblo and Jemez Springs, via the Valle Grande to descend Frijoles Canyon to Bandelier National Monument. Take your time to enjoy the hummingbirds and ruins. On leaving, you may want to continue north past Los Alamos, entering Santa Fe from the North. This is a half-day (or more) drive through some of the most beautiful landscape in New Mexico, giving you a great sense of the variety from high mesa to mountains to canyons. You may want to return from Santa Fe to Albuquerque down old NM 14 through the mining towns of Golden and Madrid, along the East Mountains. If you have any time and strength left, turn up the road to the Sandia Crest. The quintessential New Mexico loop. mjh

Ruins in Civilization By James Abarr, For the Journal

Beginning in about A.D. 1150, bands of the Anasazi moved into the deep canyons and onto the forested mesas to settle [on the Pajarito Plateau, northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico]. At first, they lived in small settlements of perhaps one or two extended families, but as the population grew, fed by refugees from the dying pueblo centers of the Four Corners area, they came together in larger communities and their dwellings changed. …

On the floor of Frijoles Canyon, the focal point of today’s national monument, they built the showpiece of their culture— the multi-storied pueblo of Tyuonyi. (This circular community, once standing two stories high, graces the floor of the canyon and once contained more than 300 rooms. Tree-ring samples from roof beams place the period of greatest occupancy between 1383 and 1466, a time of much building in the canyon.)…

Archaeologists believe a series of factors combined to make life untenable for the Pajaritans— extended drought, over-population, depleted soils from centuries of farming and a general depletion of resources.

Today, the people of Cochiti and San Ildefonso pueblos, on the southern edge of the plateau, are their descendants. …

Although the monument encompasses 40 square miles of forests, steep-walled mesas and plunging canyons, its focal point is Frijoles Canyon. This two-mile-long slash in the volcanic tuff, carved over centuries by El Rito de Los Frijoles (Bean Creek), holds Bandelier’s best known and most accessible ruins. …

Farther up canyon is impressive Long House, a combination of cave and masonry dwellings 800 feet long. Standing against the 150-foot-high north wall of the canyon, the unique dwelling is a series of cave units, cave kivas and storage areas incorporated into a community of 300 rooms.

A mile up Frijoles Canyon from the Visitor Center is the Ceremonial Cave. Under the shelter of a rock overhang, 150 feet above the canyon floor, the impressive cave, reached by a series of ladders, contains masonry dwellings and a restored kiva.

Hundreds of reminders of the Pajaritan culture lie outside Frijoles Canyon in Bandelier’s rugged back country and are accessible only by foot trails.

Two of the best-known sites are the Stone Lions and the Painted Cave.


WHAT: Bandelier National Monument, administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior; telephone: Visitor Center, (505) 672-3861, Ext. 517; group reservations: (505) 672-3861, Ext. 534.

WHERE: 45 miles northwest of Santa Fe via U.S. 285-84 north to Pojoaque and west via N.M. 502 and N.M. 4 to the entrance.

FEES: $10 a car.

HOURS: Memorial Day to Labor Day, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Remainder of year, 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Closed Christmas, New Year’s and Thanksgiving.

PARKING: Because of space limitations, trailers are not allowed in Frijoles Canyon. They must be left at Juniper Campground near monument entrance off N.M. 4. Auto parking in main lot at Visitor Center is limited. Visitors may encounter a wait of up to one hour in summer months and on holidays.

CAMPING: Juniper Campground is available at $10 a day. Group camping is provided at Ponderosa Campground at $35 a day.

If you go
FACILITIES:

Visitor Center provides information, guidebooks and orientation slide show. Museum presents exhibits on centuries of Pueblo culture. A book store, gift shop and snack bar also are available.

An easy paved trail, beginning at the Visitor Center, provides access to the nearby Pueblo of Tyuonyi, Sun House, Long House and other archaeological sites in Frijoles Canyon.

Permits are required for access to the 70 miles of trails into Bandelier’s rugged backcountry and wilderness areas. They are available at the Visitor Center at no charge.

Picnic area is provided near the Visitor Center.