Continuing a review of our New Mexico road trip! With our shoes still full of sand and full bellies from our brunch in Santa Fe, Rob and I headed to Bandalier National Monument.  (I have a thing about taking a picture in front of all the national park signs. We are gathering quite the collection!)

Bandalier is a very popular spot for day trips from Santa Fe and Los Alamos. The park serves to protect the cliff dwellings and lands of the Ancestral Pueblo People.

Rob and I have both seen our fair share of dwellings while living in Arizona and our road trip a few years ago through Mesa Verde National Park, so it wasn’t that much of a novelty to us. It was fun to test our knowledge about what everything was called and used for as we learned a ton in Mesa Verde.

What did impress me was the ladder system that the park has in place for tourists to climb up and into the dwellings. If you want to trek up into the dwellings, you may be waiting for others to come down. They are tiny inside and really only fit one or two people.

The ladders to one cave dwelling in particular were extremely high and steep and came with a large warning sign before you got to them. A number of people read the sign and opted to turn around.

Naturally, we blew right by that sign and climbed up a multi-ladder system.

Being afraid of heights, I had to find my mental happy place to not freak out and start uncontrollably shaking while halfway up the ladder. This guy on the other hand was a mountain goat in another life. I’m convinced.

If you’re looking for a day trip, or are interested in cliff dwellings, Bandalier’s short path is easy to navigate and comes with a self-guided pamphlet to explain what you’re looking at.

If you’re a camper, Banadlier also has a great set of campsites that were practically empty for us that night!

RQ: Have you seen cliff dwellings? Are you a fan? Do you have a fear of heights?

Brooke Selb

I’m Brooke Selb, a Personal Trainer and Health Coach specializing in helping busy moms and moms to be to easily juggle mom life with family friendly recipes, and easy exercise routines to help you achieve your fitness goals that fit in with your already busy life with sound nutritional advice.