Bandelier National Monument

It was a cool place to visit, however, there are plenty of cliff dwellings in New Mexico if you know where to look.

I went hiking with a couple of college buddies one spring break. Beautiful country, but make sure you plan around the water. The park ranger said that this one creek would be full. Sure enough, when we got there, it was bone dry! We followed that one down to another one, which was also dry, then ended up fighting a bunch of reeds in an attempt to get water from the Rio Grande.

This is a GREAT place to bring active kids. Oftentimes when you go to state parks and ruins, the kiddos want to touch and climb into everything, but they’re not supposed to. Here, it’s OK! You can climb up ladders into the ruins, climb down into a kiva, and hike all over the place!

Bandelier itself is good to visit and a nice hike to get to the dormant volcano. The Ice Cave though is a HUGE letdown. It’s definately not worth walking down three flights of rickety stairs to see.

Bring plenty of water and expect to climb!

There are lots of good hiking trails. It is very crowded on the ruins trail. I recommend taking the falls trail, if you have the time.

And you are free to enjoy the place, naturally!