From the visitor center area there is a trail to a waterfall. The trail is supposed to go to two waterfalls an upper and a lower on the Frijoles River; but the trail to the lower falls was not open, presumably due to damage to the trail and safety concerns.
The trail is not a long one, but it has some steep portions. Still it was not overly difficult. Initially the trail follows beside and crosses the river at one or two places, then climbs out of the river valley, going up the valley wall.
As one nears the waterfall, a deep canyon comes into view. Geologists will find the canyon wall interesting as many layers of rock and geologic features are exposed.
Frijoles River Canyon, Bandelier National Monument, March 2021
The Frijoles River dumps into the Rio Grande at the end of this canyon.
There is a view point for the falls, after one hikes past the falls and looks back upstream. The trail here is far above the river and there is not a way to get close to the upper falls.
Upper Frijoles Falls, Bandelier National Monument, March 2020
A big lens is required for getting a close up of the falls. We planned to come back here again, but we never got back. So these images are all I have.
Upper Frijoles Falls, Bandelier National Monument, March 2020
This wraps up this visit to Bandelier National Monument.
Next up: Zapata Falls and The Great Sand Dunes in Colorado.
This is a continuation of a previous post with photographs from the ancient Native American site, Tsankawi, a part of the Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Tsankawi Trail Fragment.
Up above the main continuous trail through Tsankawi, I spotted a portion of a trail that was obviously out of place. This part apparently broke away from its original location and lodged here many years ago.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Contemplation 2.
The depth of this portion of the trail is impressive. The pathways are narrow, which suggests that the people that made these were not large people.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Deep, Narrow and Steep.
It took a little effort to navigate some portions of these ancient paths, especially when carrying a daypack and DSLR.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Curves and Dead End.
Interestingly, this portion of the trail had dual pathways, but one was a dead end. Was this two lane path created by having one foot on one side and the other foot on the other side of the trail? Each side is too narrow for having both feet within the narrow channel.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Evidence of a dwelling, Shelter or storage area.
There were numerous indications of dwellings, shelters or storage areas along the pathways of Tsankawi. Some areas were off limits for visitors, so we did not get to see everything here.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Photographing the interior of a cave.
The entrance to this cave (above) seems to have a torso with head shape.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Tsankawi Cave.Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Tsankawi Caves.
There were numerous caves in some areas. Notice the foot and/or hand holds in the rocks around these caves.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Tsankawi View.
A desert view from the main trail around the Tsankawi area.
This wraps up the best photos that I managed to get in this amazing place. Perhaps someday I will get back again, when conditions are more favorable for photography.
We visited Tsankawi again one afternoon, but we never really got to be here at the very best time of the day for photography. Although, we did have some cloudy sky, which helped add a little interest at times.
Tsankawi is really an amazing place. I was most impressed by the paths created by Native Americans many years ago. Those ancient people walked the same paths so often as to wear deep trenches in the rock. Sometimes the trenches were only a few inches deep and sometimes several feet deep. Even though the rock may not be super hard here, it is not soft either, so it must have taken many walkers over many years to create such deep pathways in the stone.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Walking Through the Past 1, monochrome with selective colorization.Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.Walking Through the Past 2, monochrome with selective colorization.Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Tsankawi Trail.Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Contemplation. Monochrome with selective colorization.Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Old Tree and Fractured Rock with Petroglyphs
One has to look closely to see the old, worn petroglyphs, of which there were many, in some of the rock faces.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Lone Tree.Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Tsankawi Petroglyphs.
Viewing a larger image on Flickr will allow for better resolution of the many petroglyphs on this rock face.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Small Evergreen Tree growing in a crack in the Tsankawi desert area. Monochrome with selective colorization.
We woke up to a heavy snow cover in our campground the second morning of our visit here. We had been watching the weather forecast and expected snow over a large area, we just could not judge how much would fall at our location, which was a higher elevation than that used in the weather forecasts .
Snow in Bandelier Campground, March 2021, iPhone PhotoSnow in Bandelier Campground, March 2021, iPhone Photo
Judging by the depth of snow on the flat surfaces, it looks like 6-8 inches of cover.
After making a few early morning iPhone photos and taking care of a few housekeeping chores, I began to walk around the campground area with my DSLR.
I managed to isolate a few individual, snow covered trees against the overcast sky.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Tree and Clouds 1.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Tree and Clouds 2.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Monochrome Tree and Snow.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Skeleton Tree in Snow.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Towering Tree in Snow.
As I walked around, I tried to capture a few small features in the snow covered landscape.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Grass in Snow 1.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Grass in Snow, Monochrome.
And anything else that looked unique or interesting.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Crawling Snow Covered Tree Creature.
A distant mountainside was visible through the forest and I tried to frame that in a few photographs, but the 24-70mm lens did not allow for close ups of the distant mountains tops.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Distant Mountains 1.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Distant Mountains 2.
I think the individual trees are the best images that I captured here; but here are a few miscellaneous other images to give a feel for the general look of the snow covered forest area around the campground.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Snow Forest 1.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Snow Forest 2.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Snow Forest 3.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Snow Forest 4.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Snow Forest 5.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Snow Forest 6.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Old and Fallen, Old and Standing.
It is good that I got out early to capture the snow, since it began to melt away even as I made my way back to my van. It was essentially all gone by late morning.
This post was prematurely published due to a mistake by the author, during the editing and preview process, getting my blogs out of chronological order and maybe causing confusion of followers. Consequently, I’ve made a few edits, trying to correct poor writing and/or errors and now I will republish this item and hope there are no more glaring errors. My apologies for the confusion.
After setting up in the campground at Bandelier National Monument, we drove down into the canyon to the visitor center and made a scouting hike upstream along the stream that runs through the Frijoles Canyon. Actually, the stream is referred to as the Frijoles River, even though it is usually just a narrow stream of water. I suppose at times of heavy precipitation, that little stream can become a raging river. We hiked an undetermined distance, but I’m guessing maybe about a mile along the river before turning back.
We decided that the photographic opportunities would be slim along that trail, unless there was early morning frost or maybe snow cover to provide more interest.
We returned to the canyon the next (first) morning of our stay here with our cameras, hoping for better photographic opportunities than we had seen on our scouting hike.
The park gate opening and closing times limit the access time to the canyon, so golden hour photography was not a possibility during our visit. This might not matter, since the canyon walls limit the time of the sunlight arriving and exiting the canyon. Some times of the year may be better than others.
Unfortunately, we did not get snow, nor even a heavy frost. Nevertheless, we continued hiking and trying to get a few interesting photographs. I was mostly unsuccessful in my efforts and I have chosen not to present any of the results of my attempts at creative photography here.
Early on the hike, we came upon several deer that seemed curious about us, but not concerned. I suppose they were accustomed to humans.
Deer, Bandelier National Monument, March 2021Deer, Bandelier National Monument, March 2021
A second deer, going in the opposite direction of this first one, came along and they each eyed each other in an appraising manner, before continuing on their way.
Deer, Bandelier National Monument, March 2021
There are many Native American ruins and cave dwelling in the canyon with many near the visitors’ center. Having toured those on previous trips, we continued along the trail towards a more distant ruin called the Alcove House. My son had visited the Alcove House during a previous visit, but it was not open when I was first here, so this was my first time to see this area of the park.
To get up to the Alcove House ruins requires climbing a number of ladders and steps up the canyon side.
Ladder & Sign, Bandelier National Monument, March 2021
Much of the area at the final destination is roped off, which limits photographic compositions.
Native American Ruins in Bandelier National Monument, March 2021
In the afternoon, we made a scouting hike of a loop trail through Tsankawi, a Native American area near White Rock, New Mexico that is a part of the Bandelier National Monument. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my iPhone along, so I did not get any scouting photographs, which is too bad, since I think I missed opportunities to get photographs under a more interesting sky than we had during later visits.
Early Monday morning, I went into the Sprinter Service Center as soon as the gates opened. I found two service technicians in the service building and explained the problem to them. I was told by the one that would look into the problem, that the battery would be put on a charger first and then he expected to begin work on the van around mid-morning.
He then gave me a ride back to the main MB dealership facility, where I would have to wait. The technician apparently got to work on my van sooner than I expected, as I was informed by the service manager that it was ready to go much sooner than I had expected.
The problem turned out to be a simple fix, once it was traced down. There is a connection below the van between the battery and alternator, where Sportsmobile wired into the van battery for the automatic step motor. According to the technician, Sportsmobile did a poor job of wiring here, pinching wires, partially insulting the connections between the wires at the terminal with shrink wrap and the nut securing all the wire ends onto a terminal stud was loose. The nut looked like a self locking variety, so it should not have backed off due to vibration.
Had I known where to look, I could easily have cured the problem myself and been on my merry way much sooner.
Anyway, I dismounted the solar panels, packed them away, and updated my son on my status.
He informed me that the weather forecast for Bisti had taken a turn for the worse, with much snow expected and colder night time temperatures. A little snow there might make for some interesting photographic opportunities, but a lot of snow might cover features too much and melting snow would render the clay soil a real problem to deal with. And the snow would melt rapidly during daylight hours.
Consequently, we decided to meet at Bandelier National Monument, which was only a 2-3 hour drive from Albuquerque. I was not elated about Bandelier, since I had overnighted there a couple of years ago and I was not overly impressed with the photography possibilities there.
But the campground in Bandelier is very nice, usually not crowded, especially at this time of the year, which is good, since the campsites are first come, first serve, with no reservable sites. There are also clean, newish, heated restrooms, but no showers.
I arrived at the campground first, drove through both campground loops and picked out two campsites that looked suitable, then went to the automated reservation kiosk and reserved those two sites for a couple of nights. We were not sure how long we would stay.
My son came into the campground shortly after I pulled into my site. After we got set up, we went down into the deep canyon, where the visitor’s center is and most of the Native American ruins are located. This is the most visited portion of this national monument.
We hiked for about a mile along the stream/river that runs through the canyon to scout for possible photographic opportunities for the next day. We were expecting some snow and we decided that snow would improve the scenery here.
We then retreated to our campsites for the night.
So finally the “bad” part of this trip was over and we were making plans for the remainder of this Spring Break Trip.
The third stop in my 2019 Spring road trip was Bandelier National Monument in northern New Mexico. This was mainly a convenient place to overnight on this trip, but I was, also, curious about this area. The camping area here is really nice with good restroom facilities, but no showers. The camp sites tend to be rather close to each other, but during my visit the area was almost empty with only a few scattered campers. This being my first visit, I stopped to chat with the camp site host, whom I spotted as I drove on an exploratory trip around one of the loops, all of which were open, even though the official website said some might not be open during the off season. The camp host suggested that I drive around, pick out several sites that I liked, then go to the self check in kiosk on the roadway just prior to the first loop. I did so, picking out a site with no one near it, but near a restroom. Most of the parking sites seemed to be at least slightly sloped, but not so much that it was uncomfortable, so I did not feel the need to try leveling my vehicle.
After setting up and having a late lunch, I headed out to the visitor center, which I arrived at just after the 5PM closing time, so I did not get inside there. There are a number of trails near the visitor center, so I picked up a trail guide outside the visitor entrance and decided to take a quick hike along the main trail.
Prior to this visit, there had been much snow in the area and the website said some trails were snowy and icy, so I brought along ice crampons for my hiking footwear. However, the snow and ice were all gone while I was there, so I still have new, unused crampons. I had received a weather notification of another spring storm heading this way with heavy snowfall expected over some areas.
Recent flooding had closed some areas and trails, all of which sounded more interesting than those that were open.
For landscape photography, I did not find this area of great interest, at least not on this visit. This is a beautiful forested (mostly evergreens) area, but a bit enclosed and confining for my inclinations. On my short hurried hike, I did not bother taking my DSLR and other gear, since I had no idea about what to expect.
Native American Ruins along the Main Trail in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone Photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
There are interesting Native American ruins here, so there is much of historical and archeological interest.
Kiva remains, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone Photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.A Kiva and entrance, Bandelier NM. iPhone Photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Ladder access into a Native American Cave Shelter in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
One is allowed to enter into any of the ancient dwelling with the ladders provided. The ladders are not ancient, of course.
An interior view of a Native American cave shelter, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
The ceilings of the cave dwellings are blackened by fires used by the ancient dwellers. There were remnants of log elements protruding from the ceiling in some of the caves with a few charred by fire. These do not appear to have been necessary for roofs, so I’m guessing they were used for other purposes, maybe for hanging pots for cooking or storage. There is probably more information about these dwellings on the park website.
Native American Cave Shelter, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
There were quite a few caves carved into the volcanic rock of the cliffside along the main trail.
Ruins as seen from the main trail along the cliff face, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone Photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
There are interesting rock shapes along the cliff side trail and good views of the ruins on the valley floor.
Native American ruins along a cliff face in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
There are holes in the cliff face, where roof supports were originally installed. Some of the shallow alcoves along the cliff face contain paintings or petroglyphs.
After leaving the visitor center area, I went back past the camping area to a parking area at the Frey trail head and walked along the trail for awhile. The portion of the trail I walked along, just prior to sunset, was mostly through a thinly forested area. At a high point along this trail, there were good view of snow covered mountain peaks and I paused for awhile to see what the sunset would be like.
Sunset Clouds in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Skylum Luminar.A dramatic sunset sky in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Skylum Luminar.
On this brief exploratory hike, I only had my iPhone camera with me, so the quality of the sunset photos are limited, but at least give one a sense of the possibilities here.
None of the photos in this post are published on my Flickr page, since I do not consider them of sufficient quality for sharing there (not to say that I have not ever published some poor quality photos on Flickr).
I will be away for a few days, so the next post may be delayed.
