Tsankawi Village: Bandelier National Monument (Winter Break Day 6)

Well worn footpaths

Unexcavated puebloan ruin of Tsankawi

Camo sits inside a spacious well ventilated room once used by the Ancestral Tewa Pueblo people over 600 years ago.

View from inside the room

Here's to a happy and healthy 2017!

It was a cold, foggy morning on the first day of 2017 in Bandelier National Monument. Camo, Moosie, and I had a 10 hour drive to head back east to Texas where Moosie and I had planes to catch the next day. Our winter break road trip was coming to a close.

Before leaving Bandelier, we were treated to one more fantastic trail, the Tsankawi Village Trail. Moosie, Camo, and I took about two hours to slowly walk the route which led through the un-excavated ruins of the village which was once home to the Ancestral Tewa Pueblo in the 1400's. There were about 275 ground floor rooms there, many were once one to two stories high at the time. The views were spectacular once again, the air cold and crisp. There were well worn footpaths carved along the canyon walls by the Ancestral Pueblo people, made deeper by modern day tourists and visitors. Petroglyphs and pottery sherds were abundant. We only saw one other visitor on this New Year's morning, and were able to quietly contemplate the people who once lived here, and think about what the new year would bring. Once again, I was fascinated by the numbers of people that once lived there, as well as the surrounding canyons off limits to visitors.

Our time was short, so eventually Camo, Moosie, and I made our way back to the car. Before long, we were staring out the windows over the Texas plains. I was feeling rejuvenated, thankful for another opportunity to see a small portion of the southwest...