Bandelier and the dirt roads of the Navajo nation

Tuesday November 3 

After the failed wood fire of the previous night (how do you keep a fire going when there is no oxygen?) I decided to use the solid fuel pellet camp stove to make breakfast. Put in four pellets, which was way too much and scorched the sides of the pot but boiled enough water in under two minutes for freeze dried eggs (which was disgusting and got tossed immediately - real food my ass) and a giant bowl of oatmeal.

Tasted fine but felt like eating out of a cat bowl

Went on the main trail past the big kiva, the long house and up to the alcolve house. The ruins are in way better shape than at Tsankawi, with the footprints of buildings and half of their walls all still in place. The walk through a wooded stream bed is also very pleasant.

Tyuonyi did way better than Tsankawi over the centuries

The trail to Alcolve House

River birches?

But the park’s signature feature is the 140 foot stair and ladder climb up to Alcolve House, a large cliff inset with a kiva and an amazing view. I squeezed into one of the alcolves and took a picture of some French people.

If you look closely those specks are people climbing a ladder

French occupation of the Alcolve House

Had amazing carnitas tacos at a hole in the wall-ish Mexican place in one of Los Alamos' gazillion identical strip malls. I took some time to update the blog, knowing I'd be out of wifi range at Chaco Canyon and Bisti, but that delayed my departure and it was once again getting dark by the time I got to Chaco. 

I thought the car might break apart before I ever made it to the park, driving over washboard-hard dirt roads for what felt like an eternity. Seriously, it might have taken over an hour to travel 16 miles to the park entrance where the pavement resumed. I found the campground and was really glad to have the 60-second setup tent. It was windy but for the first time I wasn't too tired to stare at the milky way so I put a blanket on the picnic table and wrapped myself up into a duvet cocoon and wondered how it could be that I couldn't even find the North star in a night sky without light pollution. Such a city slicker!