After watching a movie at the historic visitor center we picked up a couple of items, grabbed our cameras and water and went for a hike. The loop hike takes you through the valley and up along the cliffs. You visit several ancient ruins and I'm impressed with the engineering ability of the past ancestral pueblo dwellers. After the hike you realize what an ideal location Frijoles Canyon was for this ancient pueblo.
After our visit we returned to Santa Fe after visiting San Ildefonso reservation and pueblo. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant named Maria's, dinner was good.
Giant Kiva at Bandelier
Rooms that used to be home for a family
Pottery shard that I found on the edge of dwelling wall. After this photo I put it back exactly where it was and covered it with a little dirt. This piece looks like the pottery had a light brown ring on the top. Imagine how old this piece is and how many pueblo dwellers handled it.
A crack in the canyon wall where water could enter the canyon and was also possibly a trail to the top of the mesa.
This was a large dwelling with many rooms and at least two stories high. With this main dwelling and all of the cliff dwellings in this canyon this was a huge community.
Bill peering out of one of the caves that were basically used as back rooms to many of the dwellings
Cliffs and looking up into the canyon.
Carol and Pam have found a cliff dwelling. What do you two think of the accommodations?
Poles were put into those holes to support roofs of the dwellings. These were probably 3 stories high.
The valley floor large evergreen trees, Juniper and pinion pine. Lush vegetation and a year around stream that flows through the bottom.
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