Day 45 April 18

Wednesday, April 18

One of the four ladders that take you to "Alcove House"

Inside a reconstructed kiva at "Alcove House"

Standing on top of the Kiva with a 140 foot straight drop behind them.  

Anna looking out.

Inside a typical room, this one was used for weaving, the impressions on the floor were part of a loom.

Bandalier National Monument contains the ruins of a Pueblo community that lived in this area of New Mexico until the mid 1500's. There are remains of cave dwellings, ground dwellings, and kivas - round structures where ceremonies and community events took place. All of the rock they used is volcanic rock, produced when the nearby Jemez Volcano erupted more than a million years ago. Two eruptions of this supervolcano covered the surrounding 400 square miles with up to 1000 ft of volcanic ash. The ash compacted over time to form "tuff', a soft rock that is can be similar in appearance to sandstone. This rock was easier for the Pueblo to carve and shape to make their homes. They used tools made from harder rocks like basalt or obsidian that were created by other volcanic activity in the area.

Lava dome within the caldera, the soil is so thin over the caldara that only grass can grow.

panoramic view of the caldera about two miles in diameter

In the afternoon, we visited Valles Caldera National Preserve, the basin that is the remains of the Jemez Volcano. The shape of the caldera was very evident by the landscape, although the scope of it was hard to take in...this was one huge volcano. There was a lava dome visible in the middle. The vehicles and structures in the photos might help give some perspective. The area was ravaged by a forest fire last year that spread over 150,000 acres, sometimes spreading at a rate of over one acre per minute. Thankfully, the vegetation and wildlife seem to be slowly recovering.we saw a coyote not 30 feet from our campsite!