Bandelier

Lower Capulin Canyon.jpg, originally uploaded by craptastica.

Sara and I recently returned from a backpacking trip to Bandelier National Monument. It was beautiful and harsh, and made for a wonderful way to enter my 28th year of life.

Bandelier may have one of the highest concentrations of archeological elements anywhere in the United States. For hundreds of years this area was home to the ancestral pueblo indians of the modern day San Ildefonso and Cochiti Pueblos. They lived in the mesas and canyons of this area. There still exist the remnants of pueblos that were made up of thousands of rooms with ceremonial kivas, courtyards, and agricultural fields.

Though the most of the pueblos aren't much recognizable anymore, the area and its scenery are fantastic. We dragged our packed up flat-topped mesas that seemed to go on forever and rocky canyons that seemed impossibly deep. Vegetation changes between these topographic dichotomies were drastic.

We were also in the heart of monsoon season. As we hiked giant blue-white thunderstorms built up to heights of up to 5-miles high on the horizon above us. We watched the fomation of these cumulo-nimbulus monsters with amazement and apprehension. Is it going to rain on us? Will there be lightening?

Though it did pour on us for two of the three nights we were there, we stayed dry. Our bigger problem was that we actually almost ran out of water on our last day. Though it stormed and poured in the alpine country, by the time we had hiked to the high desert all the streams had gone underground and there was no water to be found.

Overall we had a blast. We ate like gourmets, gazed upon unspeakably beautiful landscapes, and joked and joshed our way through all the backcountry hardships. I know what I'll be doing next year for my birthday.