Of course we don't like hordes of people, and it was forecast to be quite hot in the heat of the day, so we planned to go early. An added advantage of getting an early start is that if you get there before 9, you don't have to take the mandatory shuttle for the last twisty-windy 20 minutes into the park, but can rather drive all the way to the visitor's center in the comfort of your own vehicle. Saving Chad the potential carsickness of riding in the back of a van seemed like a good choice.
The kid was sleepy on the trail at 8am. It was a cheerful sleepy, at least.
The low-angle morning light was really quite pretty, and we enjoyed the pleasant temperature, knowing that it would be up near 90 degrees later in the day.
The Pueblo ruins started to appear after a short walk from the parking area.
As we approached the cliff on the edge of the broad canyon, we admired the interesting nooks and crannies and shapes created by the uneven erosion of the volcanic tuff in this area.
The Ancestral Puebloans, clever people that they were, took full advantage of the characteristic erosion patterns in the cliffs in the engineering of their dwellings and storage spaces. The park service has placed some ladders so people can investigate some of the spaces. I also noticed many places where there were faint hand/footholds chipped into the rock, indicating that ladders historically weren't the only way up.
Chad took advantage of the slight gain in elevation up to the cliff
to take pictures of the ruins of Tyuonyi below.
There were plenty of opportunities for hide-and-seek.
The dwellings built into the cliff were clearly complicated multi-story affairs, es evidenced by linear patterns of chipped-out holes in the rock, remnant logs, and walls. The communities here were large, once upon a time.
Chad, enjoying the scenery. Look, what's that?
Petroglyphs! As if cliff dwellings on their own were not enough. The more we looked, the more we saw.
Some of the smaller rooms looked like they could have been used for storage.
After a while, I started to imagine faces in the crevice patterns.
The Long House complex extended for an impressively long way along the edge of the canyon.
Fragments of old wall decoration were apparent in a few spots.
Despite the desert vegetation you see above, most of the canyon below was quite lush, with a creek running year-round. People living here would have had quite a variety of plant materials to use and eat. Wildlife is abundant too. Clearly, a nice place to live!
Random art shot of the kid, being cool.
Further up the trail is another structure, the Alcove House. The teen approved of all the ladders one needs to climb to get up to it.
Up,
and up,
and up some more.
140 feet above the canyon floor, we found a reconstructed kiva
and numerous nooks to play in.
Then it was time to go back down all the ladders.
Back at the visitors center, the kid feigned boredom -- or extreme coolness. It's hard to tell which.
A lizard friend restored good cheer
so we could go on the hike down the canyon in the other direction.
The trail in this direction follows El Rito de los Frojoles, which cracked us up when we realized it translates to "The Little River of Beans". Somehow, we just couldn't stop saying "The Little River of Beans" in response to just about anything. It might have been hunger speaking; we found a nice picnic spot and ate our sandwiches.
Eventually the drainage narrowed and steepened, eventually stopping at a waterfall viewpoint. The trail used to continue down to another waterfall and then all the way down to the Rio Grande, but that part is now washed out, so we had to stop at the first waterfall.
Kiddo and Chad. "Do not Throw Rocks", the sign says -- but it doesn't prohibit squid fights.
Closer look at that, so you can fully appreciate it. I think lunch must have hit the bloodstream by this point.
After hiking back up to the parking area, finding a cold drink, and using the compressor to pump up a truck tire that looked like it was getting low, we headed back towards town. We did, as is characteristic, need to stop at a few viewpoints on the way back.
New Mexico, Land of Enchantment!
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