Bandelier National Monument

I started my road trip out west to my new job in California officially on January 8 after my last day in the office in Atlanta. I went to Memphis for a few days to visit with my best friend Lisbeth and her girlfriend Micaela. We had a great time, but it rained the entire time, so no exciting hikes to write about! I feel like the road trip actually started when I picked up my good hiking friend Cough Drop in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Sure, I had drive most of the way across country to get there, but the real fun started when he got there. I will just show one picture of the New Mexico sunset the night I picked up Cough Drop because it was just so pretty.



After a very brief stay in Albquerque (and a very long drive out west), I was itching to get out and do some hiking and camping. I had heard from some friends that Bandelier National Monument was not to be missed. We stocked up on food and headed to the hills. Bandelier is this huge canyon area where the Pueblo people lived 11,000 years ago. There were petroglyphs, dwellings carved into the rocks, and old masonry walls protected by the National Park Service. Since we didn't get there until late afternoon, we opted for a short history loop walk that went by some of the main artifacts and historical elements of the park. It was fantastic. Check out my facebook page for more pictures, but here are a few to give you a taste of what we saw.

The hike we did was in the canyon, but the view from the top of the canyon looking towards the Jemez mountains was equally spectacular. We opted to spend the night here, as it was getting late and it was really pretty. We didn't have to worry about fighting for campsite space, there was only one campground loop open and we were only ones crazy enough to camp that night. The campground sits at about 8,000 feet above sea level and there was plenty of snow on the ground. We set-up our camp on the snow and decided to hike around a bit to watch the sunset and to warm up a bit before cooking dinner.

After a nice sunset, we built a big fire and had some beers to assist in the warming process. The stars were amazing and the company just right. We cooked our respective dinners and soon retired to the tent because it was getting so cold. My watch thermometer read 8 degrees at one point, so it was in fact, chilly. We both woke up super early and decided to just take down camp quick and start driving towards our next stop. But, I did manage to heat water for some oatmeal and hot tea before starting up my sluggish truck for the long drive toward Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. I'll have to come back some other time and do some other trails in Bandelier when I have a bit more time. A must see.