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The Main Loop Trail at Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico takes visitors to the most accessible archaeological sites at the park. It’s 1.2 miles long and fairly easy.
Big Kiva
The trail begins at the Frijoles Canyon Visitor Center, with the first stop at Big Kiva. A kiva was used by Ancestral Puebloans for ceremonies and as a community center.
Tyuonyi
Next are the ruins of Tyuonyi, which was a circular village that once stood up to two stories high. It dates back to between 1383 and 1466. The village contained about 400 rooms and three kivas, and housed about 100 people.
Talus Houses
The trail continues up to the cliffside where there are a series of talus houses (cliff dwellings). Actually classified as cavates, they were dug out by humans and are not natural caves.
Many cavates had stone rooms built in front of them, and there’s a reconstruction of one cliff home on display. It was built in 1920 but may not be completely accurate.
One of the cliff dwellings called Cave Kiva has been reconstructed. Visitors can climb inside and imagine what life would have been like inside it.
Long House
Next is Long House, which is another series of cliff dwellings several stories tall. There are no ladders leading up to any of these homes and only the foundations of the stone rooms remain.
One of the interesting things about Long House are the pictographs. The one in the photo below was on the back wall of a second story home. It was painted and later covered over. Other petroglyphs can be found if you look closely.
There are also great views of Frijoles Canyon from Long House.
Looping Around
The trail starts to loop back towards the visitor center after Long House, with a couple of log crossings over Frijoles Creek along the way. After the first log crossing, it’s possible to continue on the Alcove House Trail.
