Bandelier National Monument

Last evening we enjoyed a 5 mile loop to the edge of Frijoles Canyon, relaxing on a bench with a great view.

Talking with a ranger, she mentioned that her favorite hike was Frey trail. Looking it up, we discovered it connects the campground to the canyon floor trails. With the campground at the top of the cliff, taking the trail would keep us from having to park in the crowded lot at the bottom. We just hope we're up for climbing back up the 600 foot cliff at the end of the day. Packing three bottles of water, we set off for our first real canyon adventure.

 Flowers and a lizard added color and life to the dry trail as it switched back and forth, easing the grade. With Beth's fear of heights, she hugged the inside of the trail, but made it all the way down.  We didn't meet anyone until we reached the pueblo dwellings.

 The soft rock allowed native americans to dig holes for cliff dwellings. This line of holes once held the ends of timbers that supported a roof. Above the holes are the first petroglyphs we've seen.

 These caves looked ominously like a face...

 Beth even climbed up into one of the cliff dwellings!

Aberts Squirrels Have Tufted Ears

Even after walking all the trails to the different dwellings, we managed to climb back up the cliff to our campsite. After 8.3 miles of walking and climbing we renewed the campsite for another night and relaxed in the van. A few mule deer wandered by during dinner, bringing the total to three new animals for us today. We walked out to an open area in the evening to see the night sky, but we were yawning so much we headed to the van for bed before twilight was over. Bandelier is a beautiful park and we were lucky to have it almost to ourselves.