Hiking

For thousands of years, people have traveled across this landscape of sloping mesas, expansive vistas, and rugged canyons. Today, you can follow in their footsteps by exploring over 70 miles of park trails. Please be safe, know your limits, and visit with respect.

 

Be Safe & Visit with Respect

All of Bandelier National Monument is an ancestral home that is sacred to 23 tribes. Please visit with respect by staying on trails and leaving cultural and natural resources where you find them.

• Hike only on designated trails. 
• You are at high elevation and in a hot and arid climate. 
• Dehydration and altitude sickness are common causes of medical emergencies. Please consider your health before hiking.
• Carry and drink plenty of water. Eat salty snacks. 
• Pets are not allowed on trails. However, service animals are permitted.

 

Bandelier National Monument has over 70 miles of trail that connect out into the adjacent Santa Fe National Forest Lands. The most popular of these trails are the Pueblo Loop Trail and Alcove House Trail. They are accessed from the visitor center in Frijoles Canyon. These trails take you to many Ancestral Pueblo sites.

The Falls Trail is another trail that is very popular. It takes you to a beautiful waterfall. Before the flash floods of 2011 the trail continued to the Lower Falls and ultimately to the Rio Grande. Flooding destroyed the trail leaving no access to the Rio Grande from Frijoles Canyon. There are no archeological sites on this trail.

Bandelier also offers opportunities for much longer hikes. Permits are available for overnight stays in much of Bandelier's backcountry