It would be hard to imagine a greater contrast between yesterday’s Meow Wolf experience and today’s activities.  The House of Eternal Return was delightful and fascinating, but also tended toward overstimulation.  Today’s trip outside the city was the perfect antidote.

We set off first thing, heading northwest to Bandelier National Monument.  (Zoe and I are both directionally-challenged, and one real concern for us is getting lost on some back road with no cell signal.  Fortunately, this area is enough of a wilderness that there is really only one road and everywhere we went today basically just involved going straight.)

Bandelier is less than an hour from Santa Fe, and was well worth the trip.  The drive there was beautiful, winding through the mountains with a new vista around every corner.  We were first to arrive in the parking lot, just as the park opened at 9am.  Setting off on the main loop trail, we had the whole park to ourselves.

The main area of Bandelier winds through the

View from inside the cliff

Frijoles Canyon, which was the home of Pueblo people.  There are ruins of their brick buildings on the canyon floor, and the famous cliff dwellings that were hollowed out on the sides of the canyon.  Bandelier is possibly unique in that there are ladders along the trail that allow you to climb up and explore some of these cliff dwellings.

Unfortunately the section of the trail that is known for its long, steep ladder ascents has been closed since September due to flooding, so we didn’t get that adrenaline-pumping adventure.  Instead we took a side trail that climbed steeply to the top of the canyon and through a juniper forest.  The views were stunning and the silence was amazing.  With only one road (the park entrance road) within miles, and very little traffic on that, we could hear nothing except the rustle of wind and the occasional bird.  It made us realize how seldom we are able to experience that kind of silence in today’s world.

The second part of the main loop went through a very different ecosystem on the other side of the canyon.  Leaving the sun-baked exposed rocks, the trail wound into a forest and along a stream.  The trees and plants were completely different from what we’d seen in the forest on the top of the canyon.

By the time we got back we’d worked up an appetite.  Bandelier’s cafe (at which we were the only customers) is supposedly known for having the best burger in New Mexico — the “Doug”, which comes with American and mozzarella cheeses, carmelized onions, green chilis, and a whole chili relleno on top.  The lone restaurant worker recommended having the Doug made with an elk burger, so we went with his suggestion.  It was delicious.  (But luckily we decided to split one, along with a few other snacks.  I wasn’t even able to finish my half.)

Next up we continued down the road a while to Spence Springs, a natural hot spring along a hillside in the wilderness.  We weren’t quite sure if we’d be up for going in, but we took the mile-long trail down the side of a canyon then back up again.  It was a big treacherous with snow, ice, and mud, but we eventually made it (though my sneakers will never be the same).  There were two other people there soaking and we decided to go for it despite the chilly air.  It was pretty amazing sitting in the warm water, surrounded by snow drifts, with a view out over the surrounding mountains and no signs of civilization.  There was a cave on one side that you could barely squeeze into, and one of the guys who were there told us it was like a sauna inside.  Neither of us (nor his friend) were brave enough to do more than stick our heads in, despite the chill.

Our last stop was supposed to be the Valles Caldera National Monument, another huge park between Bandelier and the hot spring.  We had driven past it on the way, and upon our first glimpse were very confused to see what looked like a huge, snow-covered lake in the middle of the high desert.  But upon closer inspection, we realized it was the caldera of the huge volcano that erupted here long ago.  Since the ground inside was snow-covered and has no trees (except one strange raised area that looked like an island), it looked very much like a winter lake.

Not a lake!

When we pulled in, we saw that the entrance road was dirt and traveled downhill to the bottom of the caldera.  As we started down, the road became more snow-covered.  Looking at the long, long road winding away out of sight below, and thinking about the drive back up and the remoteness of our location, and remembering the multiple harrowing instances we’ve had of being stuck on uphill winter roads while on ski trips — I decided to bail out.  Luckily there were no other cars so I could just reverse back up the short distance we’d traveled.  So, we didn’t really get to enjoy this park other than the stunning views from the top (which were worth the stop in their own right).

No evening adventures today — we were both too tired to walk into town and didn’t feel like getting back into the car, so a quick board game, Door Dash, and an early bedtime it was.