GET-YUR-MOTOR-RUNNIN' ROAD TRIP
(Astoria - Santa Fe - Death Valley - Astoria)
October 26, 2013 (Day 12 of 44)
Day Trip to Bandelier National Monument
Miles Today: 76 / Trip Miles: 1,979
Our group took the mandatory shuttle bus, operated by Atomic City Transit, from the White Rock Visitor Center to Bandelier. We chose the option of disembarking at Juniper Campground, near the canyon rim, and hiking down to Frijoles Canyon.
Bandelier is bordered on the north by the U.S. Department of Energy Los Alamos National Lab. Los Alamos is one of two laboratories in the United States where classified work toward the design of nuclear weapons is undertaken.
Bandelier National Monument:
Bandelier National Monument protects over 33,000 acres of ruggedly beautiful canyon and mesa country, as well as human presence here going back over 11,000 years. 23,000 acres of the monument are classified as wilderness area. Petroglyphs, dwellings carved into the soft rock cliffs, and standing masonry walls pay tribute to the early days of a culture that still survives in the surrounding communities. Bandelier was designated a national monument in 1916, and named for Adolph Bandelier, a Swiss anthropologist who researched the cultures of the area and supported preservation of the sites. [Rating A-]
Life in Bandelier:
The Ancestral Pueblo people lived here from approximately 1150 to 1550. Corn, beans, and squash were central to their diet, supplemented by native plants and meat from deer, rabbit, and squirrel. Domesticated turkeys were used for both their feathers and meat.
After over 400 years, the land here could no longer support the people, and a severe drought added to what were already becoming difficult times. By 1550, the Ancestral Pueblo people moved from this area to pueblos along the Rio Grande. The people of Cochiti Pueblo, located just south along the Rio Grande, are the most direct descendants of the Ancestral Pueblo people who built homes in Frijoles Canyon.
Frey Trail:
From the Juniper Campground we took Frey Trail 1.5 miles down to Frijoles Canyon. After a short distance of flat terrain, the trail switchbacks down to the canyon 550 feet below. Prior to the construction of the modern entrance road in the 1930s, the Frey Trail was the only access to the canyon.
Frijoles Canyon:
"Frijoles" is a southwestern bean cultivated and used for food. The Pueblo people lived in homes built of carved blocks of volcanic tuff which is soft and relatively easy to break into blocks. The blocks were held together with a mud mortar. Tuff is an igneous rock that forms from the products of an explosive volcanic eruption.
Tyuonyi Village:
The central village in Frijoles Canyon, called Tyuonyi, is one of the largest and best preserved settlements in the region. A two or three stories tall circular community house once stood here. It is estimated that Tyuonyi Pueblo had 400 rooms, but only 100 people lived there. Many of the rooms were used mostly for storage of food and pens for turkeys.
Cavates:
Cave rooms (cavates) carved from the volcanic tuff of the canyon wall by the Ancestral Pueblo people, served as dwellings, kivas, and storage sites. Even though the tuff is soft it would have been quite a task to carve them using only stone tools. The lower walls of cavates were usually plastered and painted while the ceilings were smoke-blackened. Smoking the ceilings hardened the volcanic tuff and made it less crumbly. A kiva is a room for religious rituals.
Frijoles Creek:
Frijoles Creek ("El Rito de las Frijoles") runs through the Frijoles canyon. A month before our visit, Bandelier experienced a flash flood, the largest flood in recorded history. In 2011 the extremely hot Las Conchas Fire burned over 70% of the upper watershed of Frijoles Canyon causing subsequent flooding, as recent as September 2013. It was interesting to see firsthand how an ecosystem is refreshed, and how fire and rain are constantly changing the landscape. [Flood Videos]
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Photos
(Click on Photos For Larger Image)
Pueblo Ruins
Looking down into Frijoles Canyon from Frey Trail. The circular community house that stood here was two or three stories tall. It is estimated that Tyuonyi Pueblo had 400 rooms, but only 100 people lived there. Hikers on the trail provide a sense of scale. Frijoles Creek is just beyond the trees, and the light-colored dirt shows the extent of the September 2013 flash flood. [flickr.com]
Frey Trail
Talus House
Talus House is a 1920 reconstruction of an Ancestral Pueblo home. Note the many cave rooms (cavates) dug out of the cliff wall. A cavate to the right of the Talus House has a ladder. Similar talus houses, built from rock debris at the bottom of the cliff, used to be in front of the other cavates. [flickr.com]
Ladder to Cavate
Cave rooms (cavates) carved from the volcanic tuff of the canyon wall by the Ancestral Pueblo people, served as dwellings, kivas, and storage sites. [flickr.com]
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