There is no better way to spend our day after church, then to go on a hike. There is something about witnessing God's beautiful creation by getting out into nature that heals all things. We are blessed here, in a small blip of New Mexico, to be surrounded by gorgeous public lands. We almost have the trifecta of locations, since we are the hub for three National Park units with Bandelier National Monument, Valles Caldera National Preserve, and the Manhattan project. We are also surrounded by lots of public lands through our National Forests.
Today we ventured out to our neighbor Bandelier National Monument to check out the Falls Trail. Perfect for our range of kiddos from age 3 to 10. This hike is a nice 1.5miles to upper falls with only 400 vertical feet of gain. The steep drop offs did get unnerving with a toddler and rowdy boys who sometimes are completely clueless of their surroundings, but with lots of safety conversations (aka moms yelling ahead to stop running next to the cliff, pay attention, hands to yourself etc) and being the personal hiking buddy of our youngest member, it was a very enjoyable hike. We were lucky to listen to flowing water for most of the hike from the creek, thanks to a recent snow fall and recent snow melt. There are extremely fascinating geological sites along the way from massive rock walls with all kinds of evidence of its volcanic history, to tent rocks along the trail towering above us. An erie sound erupted while we were checking out the falls as we heard a rock get loose and echoed as it banged its way down the canyon walls across from us. I couldn't help myself, looking around making sure it wasn't coming down on us haha.
What a reward it was to make it to the falls and discover that it was in fact flowing strong with gorgeous frozen sections of icicles and sheets of ice the water flowed over to remind us it was definitely cold despite warming up from the hike. After many warnings to get away from the edge and the passing out of snacks, the kids hung out and just enjoyed the view, while the adult did the adult thing of annoying them taking a zillion photos haha. They of course flirted with the boundaries just giggling as the mom's gasped and panicked at their testing. At one point I reminded my daughter "don't get cocky, being cocky gets you killed." Its amazing the things that come out of a parents mouth on a daily basis and this one even made me chuckle a bit, then I got the serious look again, and reminded her I'm not joking haha. The kids naturally had to ride the barrier from continuing on to the old lower falls trail, which washed out after a massive flood years ago.
This hike is one of many from our Peec Passport program. The kids were thrilled to pull out their bag of passport books to find the Falls page and do their rubbing. My oldest is pretty determined to earn the pocket knife prize for completing a passport book. Another fun motivator for this hike, complete a badge and get one step closer to the prizes.
After fueling up on our hiking snacks, (trail mix, granola bars, and the main motivator: fruit snacks) the kids were ready to trek it on back. Surprisingly the toddler made it almost the whole way back before demanding a ride because his legs were "broken". Glad to have the Ranger padre with us, he took first shift carrying the 40+lbs our massive 3 year old is. Its always a treat when we get the company of our favorite Ranger. He provides lots of inspiration and ideas of where to explore, plus we gladly accept all his spectacular photography. Chances are, if there is an amazing shot on here, its going to be from him.
We highly recommend this trail for families to see such a different view of what Bandelier is typically known for (the ladders and cave dwellings). This hike gives you a tour of amazing canyons, tent rocks, and during the right time of the year, a flowing creek and waterfall. Know your kids abilities and prepare them for being safe around steep drop offs. Hand holding on a few sections if your kiddo needs extra help like mine remembering to hike on the mountain side not the cliff side of a trail. Be prepared for some stellar attempts at par core off tree stumps along the forest section of the trail if you boys are like ours haha. Always a good idea to provide a walkie talkie for your daughter to boss her big brother and his friends from a distance haha. Saves you some breath for the hike. She will do a great job relaying any demands we are making to stay safe and in eye shot. If you girl is like mine, the opportunity to be in charge is as welcomed as Candace accepts her duties with being in charge from Phineas and Ferb.
We hope you get out and explore and witness the beautiful creation God gave us. Our public lands are there for us, so enjoy them!
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