On a perfect September day we set out for Bandelier National Monument about a half an hour northwest of Santa Fe.

A dash warning light told us we had a mystery soft tire (one light for all four tires is troubling). I have had, for years, a 12v tire pump that works off the lighter socket, so I set out to rectify the situation, only to discover that its hose had ripped, Zeus knows how. Also, there was no tire gauge in the glove box, as was specified, so we were in a bit of a pickle. Apparently, New Mexico gas stations are prohibited by law from having air hoses for their customers, for we came up empty repeatedly until we were directed to a weird truck stop that had a barely functioning air hose, but no regulator nor gauge. We filled each tire and restarted the car until the warning light went out, so we had no idea how much pressure was in the tires but none of them were low.

Bandelier National Monument is a beautiful spot that is primarily about some pueblo cliff dwellings from about 1300-1500, but there are also impressive rock formation and waterfalls if you are willing and able to hike that far. The road in from route 4 is single lane each way, not very long, but apparently tourist congestion is bad enough that you are required to park eight miles away in White City at the White City Information center then take a shuttle bus up to the park (runs every half hour). That’s ok. The bus made better time than we would, not being inhibited by fear of sharp corners at high speed next to precipitous plunging cliffs.

Our senior pass was accepted. The main loop is a walking trail about a mile and a half long on a roughly paved path that is not rough but passable for a wheelchair or scooter but it does get covered with sand in places. This will get you out to the first ruins area where you can see the footprint of a cluster of chambers or maybe homes (very small accommodations) and the first batch of pueblo dwellings in caves up on the side of the cliff/canyon wall.

We braved the steps set into the hillside to walk up to the pueblos. There were no staff on hand, we were self-guided with a $1 map. Old and overweight as I was, I could still wheeze my way up to the pueblos. A couple had wood ladders up to example dwellings. Vicki made the ascent and declared the first one too small, and the second one, a two-room mansion, too large. Goldilocks did not find one that was just right.

But, location! Location! Location! What a view they had. The former residents could see the village below and the long valley between canyon walls. It was a spectacular view.

More climbing and walking took us to the Long House pueblo (about 500’ away) which featured holes drilled into the sandstone rockface. We were told that the poles stuck into these holes were used to create roofs or canopies and to permit the building of two and three story structures. We almost missed it, but there were petroglyphs in the rock, above these pole holes, that were clearly more sophisticated than the ones we saw in Petroglyph NM in Albuquerque. Instead of just graffiti, these apparently told stories. A guide offered the theory that the Pueblo people here seemed to be the ones who used to live in Mesa Verde around (1100-1300), and were allowed or invited to come to this area by people who were already living in the plain (1300-1500). So it makes sense that their artwork was more developed. These glyphs clearly showed remains of brilliant color.

We eschewed going on the additional mile of walking to see even higher dwellings, and chose not to take the 2 mile hike to the waterfalls, repeatedly telling each other that we needed to do this kind of thing more often to get into shape. The so-called snack bar was a tiny room with equipment behind a counter that, apparently, offered some steam-table fare trucked in from elsewhere, but not at the moment. I bought an apple juice to restore our electrolytes. The shuttle back to White City was just loading so we gladly called it a day (or a morning) and planned to seek more professional food back in the big city with more than one traffic light.