Hiking in Frijoles Canyon at Bandelier National Monument

A visit to central New Mexico wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Bandelier National Monument.

The monument is about 85 miles northeast of Rio Rancho. We took the scenic route, driving north on HWY 550 to HWY 4 and through the Valles Caldera National Preserve. We arrived at the park entrance a little before 11:00 AM and paid the $20.00 per vehicle entrance fee.

We were glad we visited in early April. Beginning May 17, access to the monument is limited to the shuttle bus from the White Oaks Visitor Center.
As we drove Entrance Road, we understood why they wanted to limit auto traffic during the peak summer and early fall seasons. Much of the road has the canyon wall on the right and a drop into the canyon on the left. It is steep, narrow and winding.
There is an overlook along Entrance Road and we pulled into the small parking lot to take a look.

Not long after continuing down Entrance Road, we pulled into the Frijoles Canyon Visitor Center. The Visitor Center houses a free museum with exhibits depicting the life of the early inhabitants. There are also restrooms and maps of the trails. At the suggestion of the rangers, we purchased a Main Loop Trail Guide for $2.00.

The trail begins at the Visitor Center and heads directly into the canyon. In the above picture, you can see the Pajarito Plateau towering above the canyon and the Visitor Center.

The trail is along Frijoles Creek and we took a quick detour off the path to take a closer look at this footbridge to the Nature Trail.

Continuing along the trail, we stopped at Big Kiva. At 40 foot wide, this is the largest kiva we have seen in our explorations of New Mexico. This partially rebuilt kiva would have been the center of the community.

The trail continues through the Tyuonyi village. At one time, this large pueblo contained about 400 rooms and housed approximately 100 people.

Within the walls of the village are three smaller kivas. Only one has been excavated and stabilized.

At this point, the trail turns towards the cliffs and the cliff dwellings.

The view along the trail includes volcanic tuffs. The trail is well-marked and very scenic.

As we approached the cave rooms, we were reminded to stay on the trail and enter only caves that have ladders.

We reached the first cave room, or cavate, with a ladder.

Even this early in the spring, there were short lines waiting to climb the ladders. This cavate was small and only a few people could go in at a time.

Back on the trail, we stopped at a reconstruction of a cliff home.

The interior picture was taken from the front window. Entry to the house would have been through the roof.

Walking along this portion of the trail, you see an overview of Frijoles Canyon and Tyuonyi village. When we walked through the village, it was difficult to comprehend the size and layout. Here we are comparing it to the artist’s rendition in the guide.

There are many openings in the volcanic tuff along this part of the trail. We don’t know if this face was carved by man or nature.

We were approaching one of the most popular stops along this trail, Cave Kiva.

Almost there! We can see quite a few people inside. 

The cave has been reconstructed to resemble how it would have appeared when it was inhabited. There are beams in the ceiling that are reconstructions of loom supports.

Cave Kiva must be replastered and smoked on a regular basis to remove graffiti. It is such a shame that some people feel the need to deface our national monuments.

Leaving Cave Kiva, we continued along the trail, soon reaching the Long House section.

Long House is the section of the cliff where the people built three and four-story homes along the cliff base. The number of stories can be determined by counting the rows of holes in the cliff face.

The trail turns away from the cliffs after the Long House, crosses Frijole Creek and ends at the Nature Trail.

If you turn left, the trail takes you to the Visitor Center. If you turn right, you walk a wooded half-mile trail to Alcove House. Alcove House is 140 feet above the canyon floor and reached by climbing four ladders and walking along narrow cliff trails.

We decided to take the trail to Alcove House.

It was nice to be in the shady woods. There were many trees down from previous floodings of the creek. Through the trees, we could still see the canyon walls.

It was a warm day and hikers cooled off in the creek. Look closely and you will see a baby splashing in the water.

Beyond the creek, we reach the first of the four ladders. After agreeing that we really wanted to do this, we started the climb.

After reaching the top of the first ladder, we walked along the trail up the cliff side to the second ladder. The second ladder has a few more steps than the first! At the top is a landing where hikers wait to ascend the third ladder.

Looking down the second ladder while waiting our turn to climb up the third.

It is our turn to climb up the third ladder.

A view of the landing between the second and third ladder, taken after climbing the third ladder. There are no rails at the top of the third ladder.

Taking in the view before climbing the fourth and final ladder into Alcove House.

As the photo at the top of this post shows, Alcove House is quite large. It contains niches of Ancestral Pueblo people’s homes, along with a restored kiva. The majority of the kiva is underground, however, it is not currently open to the public.

Looking out from the edge of Alcove House, from the backside of the kiva.

A small warning sign for those that want to look over the edge.

After exploring and enjoying the fantastic view, it was time to start our descent. There were more people on the trail and the wait times for the ladders had increased. However, it was a beautiful day and we weren’t in a hurry.

After descending the ladders, we walked the Nature Trail back to the Visitor Center. The cliffs were once again visible from the trail.

We highly recommend that you visit Bandelier National Monument if you are in the area. There are more pictures of the monument on our Photography by Andreas Facebook page.