Hiking Bandelier's Ancient Canyon

Send us a text

Note: Audio Only, Please See YouTube for the Video Version

Step into the ancient world of Bandelier National Monument through this immersive backpacking journey along the Rito de las Frijoles (Bean Creek). What begins as a simple overnight trek quickly transforms into a fascinating exploration of natural wonders and human history nestled in north-central New Mexico.

The trail winds through diverse ecosystems where riparian habitats meet towering cliff faces, creating an ecological treasure trove. Wildlife thrives here - from elusive mountain lions and black bears to the more visible evidence of beaver dams transforming the creek into serene pools. Perhaps most captivating are the ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings, including the remarkable Alcove House perched 140 feet above the canyon floor, accessible only by wooden ladders anchored to the cliff face.

This wilderness adventure isn't without its challenges and humorous moments. Watch as I navigate multiple creek crossings, filter water from natural sources, and face the classic backpacker's dilemma of unfamiliar gear as darkness falls. The journey culminates with a spectacular ridge-top hike offering panoramic views of the Sangre de Cristo mountains still capped with snow. Whether you're planning your own Bandelier trip, seeking backpacking insights, or simply enjoy virtual adventures through America's natural and cultural treasures, this trek offers genuine wilderness experiences alongside practical tips for your next outdoor excursion.

Join me on this journey through ancient landscapes, and give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed coming along. Subscribe for more trail adventures as we continue exploring the hidden corners of America's wild places!

Support the show

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Okay, kids, craig the Natural Medic, I'm at Bandelier
National Monument in northcentral New Mexico, close to Los
Alamos, about to do a littleovernight backpacking trip.
If you're responsible forknowing all the rules and
securing the permits, or go thisway, I hope you'll follow me
down the trail as we exploreBandelier National Monument.

(00:22):
Okay, I'm doing a loop trail,well, two trails that make a
loop, and I'm following Rito delas Frijoles, which means Bean
Creek in the Spanish, and thereit is Nice free-flowing water

(00:42):
source.
Pretty neato Visitor Center isback that way.
Pretty much gonna follow thiscreek all the way to Zone F,
which they have designated forcamping.

(01:03):
We're going to Zone F F, whichis about a four mile walk back.
There Should be pretty flat,and then tomorrow, after I get
rolling, I'll finish the trailby heading up on the ridge at
the rim of the canyon.
Should be interesting.

(01:24):
Let's take a look at some of theanimals that are found here.
They have mountain lions, blackbears, coyotes, cottontail
rabbits, mule deer, rocksquirrels and albert squirrels
Maybe we'll see some and somereptiles you might see Bull,
snake, diamondback, rattlesnake,garterster snake, whiptail and

(01:47):
fence lizards.
Of course we're in an ecotonehere Because of the creek.
You have a lot more species youwouldn't normally find in this
part of the world, or at leastin this environment, even though
you have these huge cliffs.
On the other side you have ahuge riparian area due to the

(02:08):
creek, even though it's not ahuge park.
There's a lot of diversity here.
You can see all the differenttrees on the sign from elevation
at 5,000 feet, which is downpretty much in the bottom of the
canyon, in the creek bed ornear the creek bed, and then, as
it gets higher, you will seedifferent trees show up.

(02:32):
You can pause the video if youwant to see that in more detail.
That's the way I came over there.
I'm crossing over the FrijolesCreek and it's down here flowing
nicely.
So even though I'm carryingthree liters, I do have a filter
with me to filter additionalwater, should I need it.
I imagine tomorrow I'm going toneed to carry as much as I can,

(02:53):
as I'll be up on top of thatridge and may not have
opportunities to get water.
About a mile in there's alittle Kaibo turlet right here
you can see the walls of thecanyon pretty well.
I believe a lot of those potmarks over there stem from

(03:13):
native people making their homesup there.
I'm up here in the alcove house.
It's a round structure with aroof entrance and it's quite a
ways up off the valley floor 140foot climb Up some wooden

(03:34):
ladders Pretty crazy if youthink about it, but what a
beautiful view.
I have to wonder about thatdaily commute.
Was it worth it?
I was just at the alcove houseand now I'm entering the

(04:00):
wilderness.
About five miles to go,probably more like four, to get
to the F-stone for camping andof course, as you get into the
wilderness that is where youlose the bridges.
So right here we have HallwaysCreek and it's a little wide
point.
You can see the trail overthere.
We're gonna walk across andhopefully not fall in.

(04:21):
Keep our feet somewhat dry.
All right, so far so good, andhopefully not fall in.
Keep our feet somewhat dry.
Alright, so far so good.
Keep stepping here, step here,step here and we're across.

(04:42):
Piece of cake, just crossed thecreek one more time.
Look what we have here Campingzone E.
Reservations required, so you dohave to secure a permit.
They prefer to know 24 hoursahead of time.
Took them three, four days toanswer me.
I guess it's been here for awhile because it's pretty

(05:04):
bleached.
There's a bone right there, nota human bone, but animal bone
some kind.
I'm thinking probably elk ordeer, not really sure.
Definitely seen interestingthings here up stream off
holly's creek.

(05:24):
There's definitely some dams.
They weren't made by humans.
Looks like beaver damsDefinitely some beavers around
here making some little pondsVery cool.
I noticed several standingpools this way.
Didn't realize what was goingon until I saw this.

(05:46):
All right, it's beautiful outhere.
Sun is going down, hoping I'llget to my spot pretty soon.
I'm at the little buffer zonebetween camping areas.
You've got a sign right heresays entering no camping zone
and the sign on the other sidesays camping zone E good spots

(06:09):
back there to camp in.
I'm in camping zone F.
We're're going to keep pushingforward.
Two things I noticed down herein the so called no camping zone
between E and F there's a lotof this stuff poison, ivy leaves
of three let it be, and you'rein a very narrow spot so you

(06:33):
wouldn't really be able to put atent down here.
Anyway.
One thing to keep aware in thesouthwest, no matter where you
are, flash flooding can occur atany time.
You can see evidence of it herelots of wood piled up when the
creek floods.
They recommend you camp onhigher ground, which is probably

(06:54):
this camping area, or this partof this rail is off limits to
camping Out of the tent rocks,which is run by the BLM.
I'm a little bit out of breath.
I've not backpacked since lastyear when I was in Ashdown Gorge
in Utah, other than not walkingin the water.

(07:15):
This kind of reminds me ofsimilar characteristics.
I'm not sure if it's the samerock that the tent rocks are
made out of, but it looked verysimilar to this Low bridge.
Look out, okay, made it to thegeneral camping area.
It's just a zone.

(07:36):
There's no designated campsites.
You're allowed to camp in thisparticular zone, wherever you
can find a suitable spot.
It took me about three hours toget here and went about six
miles, a little over six miles.
That's probably okay.
We'll have more to do tomorrow.

(07:57):
Got to go up on this ridge andI've got to go a little further
down in order to climb up it.
It's about 830 right now.
I've not set up my tent, whichis a new tent that I got from
Outdoor Vitals, but I think Ican figure it out.
Let me stop filming for asecond, and I will.
I'll get back to you.

(08:17):
Well, I got supper made.
I got some veggie chili fromready wise.
I've had this one for a while.
I don't think I've ever triedthis variety.
I tried a bite of it.
It's pretty good.
It is a veggie chili, so Idon't have any meat, but it does
have beans and whatever else isin chili.
I am actually gonna sleep on mytent because I couldn't figure

(08:39):
how to set up my tent.
I bought the tent last summer.
I never set it up, got to thecampsite a little bit dark and I
was tired and Probablydehydrated.
Just gonna cowboy camp tonighton the new exped mat mat.
Just haven't had a chance touse it yet.
So we'll see how that goes.

(09:00):
All right, getting back on thetrail and shooting for our
lunchtime completion.
We do have a cafe here, abandolier, and be nice to eat
there.
Last time I was here didn't getto eat there.
They closed earlier.
Headed out on the trail, gonnago further down this way, then

(09:26):
up on top of this ridge to dothe Frigolese Rim, all the way
back to the visitor center.
Just grab some water out of thecreek.
Here it is.
I Got my c-noc bag here.
I've got my platypus Quickdraw.
Let me hook that up and I'llshow you how I filter my water.

(09:51):
I'll put links to this Set upin the description so you can
see that for yourself.
The quick draw or any otherfilter that is the same size.
So saw your squeeze, saw yourmini micro will fit to the C-NOC
bag.
It holds two liters.
The top of it, where my hand is, it slides off.

(10:14):
You just scoop the water uplike you're trying to fill a bag
, because that's what you'redoing.
Let gravity do its thing.
You can squeeze it, so it's alittle faster.
Always treat your wild waterbecause you never know what's in
there that could hurt you.
Alternatively, you can attachthe filter directly to the mouth

(10:36):
of the bottle.
Just drink it like that.
I prefer this method of usingthe C-knock bag.
Attach the filter and thendrain it into the deal.
One thing to bear in mind asyou are out in the great
outdoors is you're going tosweat and when you sweat,
electrolytes come out.

(10:56):
This is my latest one I'mtrying from Element.
This one is called Citrus Salt.
We'll try it in one of thesebottles.
I'm going to put two packets inthere and see how that goes.
The Apache and Painted Cave areback to the left, ponderosa
Campground to the left andVisitor Center is back, which is

(11:17):
where I came from over here.
You have a trail here and youhave a trail here.
We're going to go up to thisguy and go back to the Visitor
Center the wind is starting topick up a little bit and go back
to the visitor center.
Wind's starting to pick up alittle bit.
I think it's pretty amazingthat a couple hundred feet now

(11:38):
off the canyon floor, but youcan still hear the water flowing
, since we were at the uppercrossing.
According to the sign, 1.9miles, five miles to the visitor
center, should be able to dothat in a couple of hours.

(12:04):
Right now I think it's 11, 30ish, somewhere like that.
So we're looking at 12, 30, 1,1, 30 or two is we'll say, and
this way you go to CapulonCanyon and the Dome Trailhead.
That's where I came from, andthen down there was where I was
roughly last night.
There's some tall mountainsover there.

(12:28):
I think on the other side ofthat is Valias Caldera, which
I'll be going to on Monday andthen continue this way.
In front of us we can see thehigh peaks in the Santa Fe area
for the Sangre de Cristos.
I was there last week inColorado the Sangre de Cristos

(12:50):
over there by Crestone and GreatSand Dunes, and it was snowing,
so I'm not too surprised thatthere's still a snow cap.
May have to zoom in a littlebit but, yeah, still a snow cap.
I think there's about two milesuntil I get to the junction

(13:14):
trail.
I'm still using natural Atlas.
Stick with me.
The junction we've been waitingfor.
It's the last little bit to godown to the visitor center.
But you can go to other placeslike Yoposhe, mid Alamo Canyon,

(13:35):
upper Alamo Canyon, uppercrossing.
Now we're gonna go down here.
This should take us down into acanyon and to the visitor
center.
I'll turn in my bear bag andget something to eat at the cafe
and maybe visit the bookstore.
Well, definitely visit thebookstore.

(13:56):
Actually got a little ahead ofmyself.
Visitor center is 1.1 milesdown this trail.
It's mostly down the frijolito.
We entered it yesterday and nowwe're leaving it.
Thanks, bandelier, for a greatexperience.

(14:19):
Yesterday we were at the alcovehouse.
I believe it's right on theother side of that, where that
white rock is.
Down there you can definitelysee the other cliff dwellings.
That way, the trails they havebeside those are pretty easy to
see.
And here's another view ofAlcove Hills.
You can definitely see, inproximity to where the majority

(14:41):
of the homes were, how forestedit is here in the Freeholies
Canyon.
It was definitely a motivatingfactor.
Water it was definitely amotivating factor.
Water plants as shelter foranimals, that were food sources,
plants that were used formedicines, plants that were used
for daily tasks.

(15:02):
I can see my truck.
I wanted to give a summarybefore I took off from the park
for today, the thing that wentright I made it through the
trail.
That's a good right thing.
I didn't starve.
I had plenty of water.
Could have gone better.
Bringing a pillow I had a newinflatable pillow I was going to
try Didn't bring it.

(15:23):
I should have set up my tentbefore I left the house, so I
was familiar with it.
That won't happen again.
I probably should have got herea little earlier, but other
than that, I had a good time.
I hope you enjoyed it.
If you did give it a thumbs up,don't forget to subscribe to
the channel for more greatcontent.
Until next time, see you on thetrail.