Ladders, Trails & Radioactivity

September 27, 2014
Roadrunner RV Park
Pojoaque, New Mexico

We are staying a couple of miles north of Santa Fe, NM for about a week until we leave for the Albuquerque Balloon Fest.

Santa Fe is a nice town, but there are too many tourist for my tastes.  Some of the locals call it "Santa Fake" because all of the buildings are constructed to look like they are several hundreds of years old.

We have been taking day trips seeing the surrounding area.  On our way to Los Alamos area our first stop was the Bandelier National Monument.  Visitors are only allowed to access the site via a shuttle bus. It was about an half hour ride to Frijoles Canyon, home of the Ancestral Pueblo people ("Anasazi" is now considered politically incorrect).  Numerous structures are still standing against the canyon walls with trails along the canyon floor linking the sites together. 

There was a very bad flash flood last year, but this year has been dry.







We weren't sure of the meaning of this sign since it was about 65 - 70 at the time.




















It turned out to be a lot further across the canyon floor than we originally thought.

Dave's best side.

It was kind of spooky being inside these structures.  I don't think I would want to spend the night here.

When we finished the main trail we were still feeling adventurous so we started on the extra one mile hike to Alcove House.









We were a little surprised when we walked out of the woods to find that Alcove House wasn't on the canyon floor, but up a very steep area accessible by small steps and four long ladders.  I couldn't get it all in one photo.









Dave had been having trouble with some of the shorter ladders earlier.  His hand doesn't grip very well since his heart surgery.  He decided to sit this one out so I proceeded on my own.

This is a photo of the kiva at the top to prove that I made it all the way.

If you look closely at the red spot at the base of the center tree, you can see the wimp that sat on a log and waited for me to return.

After that big adventure, we visited the science museum in Los Alamos to learn out the laboratories built during WW II.  The area must be safe because we didn't glow in the dark when we got home.