Category: Bandelier Natl Park

Bandelier Natl Park Valley – Saturday June 13, 2015

Pictures from my morning hike into Bandelier Natl Park. 
I got up early one morning and hiked to 1.5 miles down into the valley and then did some more exploring of the valley floor.
Looking across the mesa at the  volcano which created this rock.
The higher area is the caldera which created this area.
Frey trail down to the valley floor.
The information I read at the visitor’s center says this is a parrot.
Couple of years ago a flash flood created quite a mess, here are some of the thousands of trees backed up on other trees.
Trail up to the Alcove Area of the park.
It was a nice morning, I was back to the visitor’s center by 9:30 a.m. to catch the first bus back to the campground.  I did have a jog down the trail a ways to catch the bus.

Our first afternoon at Bandelier Natl Park.

Here are a few of the pictures I took during our first day in Bandelier Valley.
A flower that was all over the valley.
An open Kivia.
This shows here some of the houses were built extending from the wall.
Looking up the valley at where the homes are placed.
Showing the homes in the holes in the rock wall.
In the middle you can see the railings and steps up into the homes.
More of the railings between houses.
This rock is just full of holes and is relative soft.
This cool flower again.
You can see people in the middle of this picture.
Here is a herd of Rangers.
The homes on the valley floor.
More of the railings and people looking at homes.

The logs go all the way back into the rock wall to form a roof for the lower unit and floor for the upper home.  Later I’ll have pictures of the log holes in the rock wall.
The holes in this rock is just strange.
See the railings and people.
Couldn’t get enough  of these holes.
Homes down in the valley floor.
Shows homes under an over hang.
Long row of homes.
The small round holes is where the roof and floor supports went into the wall, the homes were three stories.
Roof and floor support holes.
 Abert’s squirrel, look at the ears.
This is from inside the museum, shows how they constructed the homes.
This is from the road leaving the valley.   It was a nice morning.

Bandelier National Monument – Friday June 5, 2015

This morning we got up and went down into the valley to see the ruins.  With limited parking in the valley the county is paying for a bus shuttle system to ensure people keep coming to the park.  My guess is there may be 30 –  40  parking spaces at the parks visitors center.  Visitors can drive their own cars into the park before 9:00 a.m. and after 3:00 p.m.  We left the campground at 8:30 and drive to the visitor’s center, there were about 20 available parking spaces.  The shuttle system allows 100’s of people a day to be in the park.   The shuttle starts at a county visitor’s center in White Rock, NM.  They have a lot of parking spaces for visitors and even spots to park your RV.  The RV spots have power available for $20.00 a day if you’d like to leave the A/C running.  The A/C is important if you have a pet who can not ride into the park on the bus.  This a really great idea.  The $20.00 will than allow you to stay in this RV parking area over night.

Jean and I spent 3 hours walking along the interruptive trail viewing the ruins:  ( when I get some pictures formatted I’ll post them HERE ).  Pictures from today start half way down the page.

Bandelier National Monument – Thursday June 4, 2015

We were up early today and on the road by 7:00 a.m.. I wanted to get to Bandelier early because of the limited choice of campsites.  This campground is an older national park like campground which means there will only be a few sites we’ll be able to fit into.  We got here at noon and got the only pull through site in the park ( lucky Harry  and Jean ) site 55.

Paying for the site was an interesting endeavor.  Most things here are pay by credit card machine this includes entry into the park and camping.
Here are the registration instructions on the campground map.
TO REGISTER:  Choose a vacant site (DO NOT put anything on the site until the site is paid for) and return to self-registration area at campground entrance.  Follow directions posted by the fee machine.  Place
receipt from machine on dashboard.  Note: Machine give $1 coins for change.
If you wish to extend your stay you must do so after 12:00 Noon.
Camping fee is separate from the ENTRANCE FEE.
Campers must stop at the entrance station to show valid entrance pass upon every re-entry into park.

Two paragraphs below this on the registration instruction sheet the instructions say; “Campsites must be vacated by 11:30a.m. unless payment has been made for the following night.”

My first question is how can I extend my stay if I must make the “extend your stay you must do so after 12:00 noon” but I must be, ”vacated the site by 11:30 a.m. unless payment has been made.”?
Second question, “DO NOT put anything on the site until the site is paid for,”  When I find the site I want how do I know that someone else has not selected this site and is at the pay station paying for the site.  If I get to the self-service credit card pay station and someone else has already paid for the site I have to find another, this could be an interesting challenge when 10 people are driving around the 3 campground loops looking for a site.

Another great opportunity is at the automated pay station.  On the payment machine it says you can use a credit card $1.00’s, $5.00’s, $10.00’s and $20.00’s.  On the sign about three feet to the right of this payment machine, in the middle of the instruction for registration it says, “ DO NOT USE $20.00’s”  You’ve got to love the great ability of our government.
Oh  yea, on the receipt which is printed from the automated payment machine it says we have to be out of our site by 11:00 a.m.,  Thanks that is really useful information.