Slept in even a bit more than yesterday, breakfast at 9:30 at the hotel then off for a day in the Mountains. We covered a lot of ground today, 175 miles in the car, and 3 miles on foot.
The Jmez mountain trail is just northwest of Santa Fe. It is a circular route that takes you through the Bandelier National Monument, Caldera National Preserve, the Jmez National Forest and Jmez Indian Reservation. It was a very diverse drive with dramatic changes in both landscape and weather. The day started with clear skies and as we rose higher in elevation turned to snow.
The first stop was White Rock Overlook. This offered a dramatic view of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Rio Grande River. From there it was on to Bandelier National Monument. The park was technically closed but you could still go in, just any of the informational or other amenities (except the restrooms) were not open. The reason you make the trip to Bandelier is 1) the views are spectacular and 2) to visit the village ruins and cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Pueblo peoples. Just a side note, the
Our timing was perfect, we got there just before the main parking lot filled up, when we left there was on available parking in the overflow lot. To view the dwellings, you take a loop walk, some of which has several narrow stairs and some steep inclines, but we had our boots on and would not be deterred by any aches or pains of aging. The trail winds through the Frijoles Canyon (named as the main crops grown by the native people were corn, beans and squash, all in the same space.) The beans were the main crop as it added a layer of moisture protection for the corn, while the squash added extra mulch. I could go on for a long time about the history and sheer beauty of the area, but I will let the pictures speak for themselves, so be sure to check out all of the pictures at the bottom of the post.
This was the major sight of the day; the rest were basically drive byes and photo ops. We spent just over an hour
at the sight. The next sight took us through the Valles Caldera National Preserve. The views here were beyond imagination. The preserve was created by a massive dual volcanic eruption millions of years ago. According to all of the signs along the way, it was 500 times more powerful than the May 18, 1980 of Mt. St. Helens. Now, since I am a native Oregonian and was 18 when Mt. St. Helens blew, I can tell you that what happened here must have wiped out everything, because Mt. St. Helens was pretty devasting, it wreaked havoc on our pool, not to mention the ash that was everywhere.
What is left is the amazing valley and now preserve, today which just happened to be covered with snow. Just before we arrived at the preserve, we had pulled over at a parking area to have our picnic. Which was eaten in our car as it was snowing when we had lunch.
From there it was just a nice scenic drive through the Jmez Forest. There were no further stops as most things were closed for the winter. We did drive through Jmez Springs, known for the natural hot springs, which
would have felt very nice on my back and ankle, and the Jmez Pueblo, which is not open to visitors except during very specific festivals. There were some dramatic red rock cliffs in this area.
From there it was just a drive back to Santa Fe, did see a group of hot air balloons as we drove back to Santa Fe.
It was a very nice drive, but with the high altitude and the extensive walking does tend to wear you out. We didnt have a lot of time back in the room before we had to head out to Christmas Dinner. This time was devoted to Tarragon.
Tonights dinner was arguably at the best restaurant in Santa Fe, confirmed by our Lyft driver who use to be a limo driver for a very wealthy Santa Fe Resident. It is on Canyon Road, the same street that our Farolito walk was on last night. The street tonight was much different no crowds of people, just a quite street. It is located in the Borrego House and old adobe hacienda.
