We planned to explore Jemez Mountain about an hour away from the resort. Our first stop was Soda Dam which is a rock formation that has been forming for years with deposits of calcium carbonate from an underground spring.
Next stop? Jemez National Recreation Area. Battleship Rock towered over the parking area and the first part of our hike to McCauley Hot Springs. We didn’t pass anyone else on the trail until we got to the hot springs where an older couple was just leaving.
Battleship Rock is in the foreground.
First experience for us: enjoying a hot springs in the mountains. Kind of weird though as there were little minnows in the water that liked to nibble on you and sometimes their nibbling was a little more aggressive. I had enough of this “nature” and didn’t stay in the water for too long.
We brought our microfiber towels just for this experience and dried off quickly.
We met a few more hikers as we returned to the parking lot. We could have kept on hiking up and over the mountain to from the hot springs to Jemez Falls; instead we kept on driving until we came to the parking lot on the other side of the mountain and hiked the short distance to the Jemez Falls from there.
We stopped for a picnic lunch in the day use area and then continued on to Valles Caldera National Preserve and Bandelier National Monument and Frijoles Canyon Overlook.
We made a quick stop at the overlook before parking at Bandelier.
After leaving the visitor center, we planned to hiked the Main Loop past the Long House to Cliff Dwellings.
Big Kiva on the Pueblo Loop Trail (second picture is looking down on the kiva)
I climbed a little off the main trail to get some pictures of the Tyuonyi.
These were cool white rock formations.
As we walked along the loop, we passed numerous cliff dwellings and even some petroglyphs.
There were ladders that you had to climb once you reached Alcove House. If you had any fear of heights, this would not be the hike or climb for you! Chris and I climbed up four steep wooden ladders and some stone steps.
It is said that 25 Ancestral Pueblo People lived in this particular cavate.
We explored a few other cavates as we continued the loop back to the visitor center.
We drove back to the resort and enjoyed dinner on the patio of the Rio Grande Lounge.
The sunset and colors on Sandia Mountain was beautiful.