Agile Trekker: Los Alamos and Pueblo Loop Trail, Bandalier National Monument, New Mexico

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
11/11/2024	.8	n/a	n/a	n/a	719.7 miles

Parking:

Bandalier National Monument Visitor Center

Map:

Park service map

Directions:

Take the Pueblo Loop Trail from behind the visitor center.

We started the day by driving to Los Alamos. Our first stop was the Los Alamos History Museum. It included multiple buildings used in the Los Alamos lab. We got to see the outside of Oppenheimer's house. It isn't open to the public yet, but I was able to peer in the windows. Lots of information inside the museum, and I was glad that I had watched the movie Oppenheimer ahead of time. Next, we stopped at the town visitor center to pick up some brochures. Then onto the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Office. The office was tiny and had a lot of staff, but very little information compared to where we had just been. Don't get me wrong - the staff was very eager to answer any questions, but I just thought the history museum was more interesting.

Then we headed to Bandalier National Monument. We had to go through a security checkpoint due to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. We just had to show one id for the three of us, and then they waved us through. From there, it was 4 miles to the park. We kept passing signs for parts of the lab, even though a lot of the area just looks like wilderness. We drove by a telescope. Bandalier is beautiful, and I'd love to go back when there is no snow on the ground. We happened to arrive at the right time to go on a guided ranger walk. Luckily, they had cleared a short trail, so we got to go on a mini hike, maybe 3/4 of a mile. The ranger walked with us for 1/4 mile, and then we continued on our own. We got to climb a ladder into a cliff dwelling. Other parts of the Alcove Trail were closed off. We saw petroglyphs on the cliff face, always a highlight. Then we stopped by the visitor center to look at the exhibits. I'd love to do more hiking at this park, but most of the trails were closed due to a prior flood, or were inaccessible to us due to lack of winter hiking gear.