Bandolier National Momument - and the answer to "Why are some Momuments and others are Parks?"!!

At Chris's suggestion, I headed to Bandolier National Monument on Sunday. Going there was worth it for the scenic drive alone. It couldn't have been more beautiful. Although there was a curve ball - a bike race. Instead of just worrying about windy roads and falling rocks, I also had to be careful not to run over the bikers. Fun times.

The monument contains several thousand Ancestral Pueblan dwellings, some of which were built into cliffs, and some that were built on the canyon floor. It was so tranquil there, aside from the obnoxious tourists who kept disregarding the "don't touch the walls or walk into the structure" signs to take photos.

Entrance to the park. Take that, Illinois!



The sides of the canyon. That is not sandstone, it is in fact compressed volcanic ash, which is called tuff. It's not actually so tough, as it erodes easily. The residents of this area used that to their advantage and built dwellings in the sides of the canyon. Can you see the people outside the caves?




Here's a close up:

Here's the inside of that cave, very low ceilings. It's black due to smoke from cooking fires. Hard to believe people called this home. Also hard to believe I didn't fall off the ladder taking this photo.

Inside another cave was a pictograph. To me it looks like a guy with a hat with some feathers. Anyone see something different?

View from inside another cave. This was tall enough to stand in. The inhabitants of this area averaged 5 feet tall. These are my people!!

This is an example of the ladders I climbed to get into caves. I know, I too am surprised I didn't hurt myself.

View of the valley floor, where they had several hundred rooms and community areas:

I spent a full two minutes watching this squirrel gather dried pine needles. While I'm easily amused, he was pretty entertaining. This is an Abert's Squirrel, common in the region. Check out those pointy ears.

I did the short hike to the Alcove House, although I didn't climb up. The 140 foot vertical ascent via a system of ladders was a bit too much for me. I'm sure it was lovely, but I declined. I mean, you can hardly see it from the bottom of the trail:

To get to it, you first climbed this ladder:

And a few more before you even got to these. No thank you.

After I finished the trek through the woods, I returned to the Visitor Station to ask Ranger Cheryl about the difference between a National Park and a National Monument, since the monuments look an awful lot like parks to me. Here's the scoop:


The creation of a National Park requires an act of Congress. However, The American Antiquities Act of 1906 gave the President the power to declare an area of historical or cultural significance a National Monument. Therefore it's much more expedient to have a place declared a Monument. A Monument can eventually become a Park if Congress acts. As Parks get more funding and staffing resources than Monuments, it's a challenge.