Tsankawi ~ A New Mexico Treasure

 

Warning: This is a long, photo-heavy post. I tried to make it shorter, but I just couldn’t do it, at the expense of not giving this incredible place the respect and admiration it truly deserves. So, if you’re not into learning about archaeology, Native American history, the past and it’s people, this post might be a bit boring and long.

But I completely and whole-heartedly recommend a visit to Tsankawi if you are planning a trip to New Mexico. And hey! Let me know when you’re coming and I’ll be happy to be your tour guide.

So, here goes:

After packing up our campsite, I had to make the final decision about the direction we would go to return home. We could return the way we came, driving south through Albuquerque. Or we could traverse the Jemez Mountains northwards, and drive through Santa Fe and down the Turquoise Trail.

I chose the latter because I’m always up for a scenic, relaxing drive, and driving through Albuquerque just doesn’t compare to driving the northern route.

Plus we wanted to search for a LETTERBOX placed in a very special location I have long wanted to visit: Tsankawi

So….Let’s get started. 

Another reason for choosing the northern route was that I was very interested in seeing the aftermath of the Las Conchas forest fires that burned in the Jemez Mountains this past summer.

This fire burned over 122,000 acres of forest, including over 20,000 acres of the precious Bandelier National Monument.

You can check out a thought-provoking post by a Mountain Climber blogger that lives in the Jemez:

Las Conchas Fires 

Even though fires are an important part of the health of a forest, it was still shocking and sad to see such a beautiful place transformed by so much destruction.

The forest that lined the side of the main roadway, which we remembered as being lush, thick with trees and vegetation was now bare, blackened and deserted looking.

The benefit of the loss of all those trees are now wide open vistas.

(This fun winding, sharply curved, steep road is perched above Los Alamos.)

(Those mountains in the distance are the Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) Mountains above Santa Fe and they follow the route we take to drive back home.)

There has been a lot of clean up work removing most of the burnt, and fallen trees.

We were surprised that, even just 3 months after the last of the forest fires were extinguished, we were already seeing new grasses, wildflowers and tiny saplings sprouting up beneath the ponderosa trees that had been burned and scarred by the fires.

Once we left the burnt forest, we traversed the tops of high desert mesas for about 12 miles, driving through the town of White Rock and passing the turn off for Los Alamos.

And then we arrived at Tsankawi.

 

Pets are not permitted on the trail, so we found a shaded parking spot and opened all the windows to let in the cool cross-breezes, and left a large bowl of ice water for Dobbie. I would never recommend this during the summer, even with shade, because it is just too hot, and there are no cool breezes, like there are during Autumn. While it did get very warm for us while hiking up on the mesa top, when we returned to the van, we were surprised to find that the inside of the van was comfortably cool and the ice in Dobbie’s water bowl hadn’t even melted yet.

Anyway, at the entrance to the trail, we borrowed a very informative booklet. Unfortunately it's hard to hike and read at the same time, so we could only read parts of it during the hike. The booklet covers 20 numbered signposts, and is highly recommended.

We were also surprised to find out that there were no parking or entrance fees being charged that day, due to the main section of Bandelier National Monument still being closed due to the forest fires. Ironically, the very next day, Monday, the park was planning to begin busing visitors into Bandelier from the town of White Rock, to visit limited areas of the park.

We started off on a short section of trail that wound it’s way through the juniper and scrub brush, and ended at a rock wall and a hand-made wooden ladder, the only way to ascend the wall and continue onto the rest of the trail.

Jen is pretty afraid of heights and in the past, nothing we said could persuade her to climb a ladder or ride a roller coaster, so I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to complete this trail. But I wanted to try.

And I really would have been terribly disappointed if we weren’t able to explore this amazing historical site. So we just didn’t make a big issue of it, and even though she was a little nervous, with our encouragement, she climbed right up. We were so proud of her!

  

Tsankawi is a detached portion of Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico, near White Rock. It is accessible from a roadside parking area just north of the intersection of East Jemez Road and State Road 4, 12 miles from the boundary of Bandelier National Monument.

(The trailhead beginning at the parking lot down below, drawn in yellow, as seen from the mesa.)

 

A self-guided 1.5 mile loop trail provides access to numerous un-excavated ruins, caves (cavates) carved into soft tuff, and petroglyphs.

(A section of the trail, first traveling across the top of the mesa and then down to the flat red rock. I drew the path the trail takes, in yellow, as seen from the first ladder)

Tsankawi (sank-ah-WEE) was built by ancient Pueblo Indians sometimes known as the Anasazi.

Archeological evidence indicates that Tsankawi may have been constructed in the 1400s A.D. and occupied until the late 16th century -- toward the end of the Rio Grande Classic Period. It was occupied by Ancestral Pueblo people.

Archeological evidence indicates that the Indians first settled the surrounding area in small communities during the late 1100s. Over time fewer, but larger communities were built. Tsankawi was one of these larger communities.

 

According to Pueblo tradition, the people of Tsankawi spoke Tewa, while those in Frijoles Canyon, the main section of Bandelier, spoke Keres. While their languages were different, their religious beliefs, lifestyles, and worldviews were similar.

Even today, active pueblos San Ildefonso, Cochiti, and others retain strong social and traditional ties with these two cultural sites.

The 1.5 mile trail through Tsankawi takes you along centuries-old paths of the ancestral Pueblo people.

In many areas, the trails have been worn into the rock 8 to 24 inches deep as the people traveled from the mesa tops to their farms in the canyons below.

The trails also connected to other villages in the surrounding area. The natives either wore sandals or walked barefoot.

In the Tewa language of nearby Pueblos the name for Tsankawi, ‘saekewikwaje onwikege’, means "village between two canyons at the clump of sharp, round cacti."

(This was the only place on the trail that gave you a choice of what kind of ascension method you’d like to climb up to the mesa top. Believe it or not, this narrow, rocky crack that Jem is sitting within is actually a stairway. You could choose this to climb to the top of the mesa, or you could choose a steep 12 ft long ladder.)

(We chose the ladder)

Jackson would have made a fine Anasazi Mesa Top Pueblo Dweller. I had to shoot fast or I would have missed my photo op with him climbing the ladders. He was swift and adept at ladder climbing.

And Jen was becoming more confident with the heights and climbing. I was very proud of her!

(And for me, climbing the ladders was a big deal, too. Less than 2 years ago, my ACL was severed when I fell off my previous horse when she teleported sideways. For over a year, while I healed up from the surgery, stairs and steep hiking trails were a huge challenge. Climbing ladders was unthinkable.)

I can climb ladders now.

The village ruins are reached after the trail winds through cliffs covered with petroglyphs and climbs to the top of the Mesa.

The village was built out of tuff stone plastered inside and out with mud. It was roughly rectangular in shape with about 350 rooms and an enclosed central courtyard or plaza. Not only were the rooms used for cooking and sleeping, but for storage of food for the winter months or when crops failed. The architectural design with rooms surrounding a central plaza is still used by present day Indians. The buildings were two or perhaps three stories high with roofs made out of wood and mud. But why have a village on the top of a mesa where, with the exception of rain collected into a small reservoir, water had to be hauled from the springs or rivers below? Was the mesa top a place of defense?

(A view of Los Alamos Laboratories, with the Jemez Mountain looming in the background, as seen from the trail upon the mesa. You can even see the ski runs of Pajarito Mountain Ski Resort)

 

The Tsankawi inhabitants were totally dependent upon the environment for survival. Their food, clothing, and shelter came from "Mother Earth". The climate was dry, averaging less than 15 inches of rainfall a year, yet the inhabitants were able to develop an agricultural way of life.

(There are unexcavated pueblo structures scattered all over the top of the mesa. This section was the main plaza, with the circular remains of a sacred kiva off the side. A kiva is where many special and private ceremonies would take place within it’s walls) 

They made use of native plants such as the pinion pine, juniper, rabbit brush, saltbush, mountain mahogany, and yucca for food, dyes, medicine, and tools. They also cultivated corn, beans and squash.

Yet in this sparse environment, natural resources were scarce, and over time the Puebloans depleted their resources. Firewood became hard to find and the soil became exhausted due to centuries of farming.

(The cobbled rocks behind Jem are an unexcavated section of the pueblo structures on the top of the mesa)

Since there was no metal, tools were made from local materials. Obsidian formed by the Jemez volcanoes was used to make arrow points, knives, and scrapers. Volcanic basalt was used as manos and metates to grind seeds and corn. It was also used to enlarge the soft tuff caves (cavetes) and to shape blocks used in building.

(Notice the trail carved into the sandstone, by thousands of trips up and down these cliffs by the Ancient Anasazi people? Also notice the cavete (cave) on the bottom left side of this photo. See the foot stairs, carved into the sandstone rock?)

The pueblo was built sometime in the 1400's and inhabited until the late 1500's by Pueblo Indians. There's not much left now -- decaying rock walls, mostly. We had to imagine the 350 rooms and hundreds of native Americans. Their descendants may now live in the nearby San Ildefonso Pueblo.

After the inhabitants left in the late 1500s, the buildings fell into ruin. The roofs collapsed and the walls crumbled. Wind blown materials filled the cracks and crevices so that only mounds of rubble can be seen with pieces of pottery lying on the ground. Today the Tsankawi mesa top is quiet and peaceful, yet speaks of a people long gone.

Imagine the people tending their gardens and going about their daily lives surrounded by the expansive vistas of what are now known as the Jemez Mountains, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and valleys resulting from the Rio Grand rift.

 

The people of Tsankawi were not isolated. There were many villages on nearby mesas or in the canyons. The people traded tools, blankets, pottery, feathers, turquoise, seashells, and agricultural products. They joined together for religious activities. The village plaza may have been a gathering place for dancing and ceremonies. Imagine what it must have been like for the inhabitants.

The mesa top would have had a flurry of activity. Women were busy cooking, sewing, grinding corn, or making pottery. Men were tending their fields in the valleys below, making tools, or hunting. There were the sounds of children playing, people singing, dogs and turkeys chasing each other. The smells of cooking, household fires, drying meat, and people in close quarters would have filled the air.

(Peek-a-Boo! I see you, Jem!)

 

The ancient pueblo inhabitants of Tsankawi not only had a settlement on top of the mesa, but built their homes along the base of the cliffs. They dug cavates into the soft tuff stone and extended the dwelling with walls made of talus rock mortared with mud. (Talus are the loose stones found at the base of a cliff.)

The roofs were made with timber and mud. These dwellings are called talus pueblos.

(I liked that this one’s opening was in the shape of an arrowhead)

 

It is interesting to note that the talus pueblos were built on the south facing side of the mesas.

During winter months the afternoon sun would warm the southern cliffs melting the snow, but the northern facing cliffs frequently had snow all winter long.

Imagine what it must have been like to live in the talus pueblos during the long winter months.

In this arid environment firewood was scarce, and the fires that were built left the rooms full of smoke. While exploring the cavetes we noticed that the roofs of the caves are blackened with soot.

Numerous petroglyphs can be found around Tsankawi and for that matter throughout the southwest. Petroglyphs are designs carved into the stone.

The ones we saw are located along the cliffs and in some of the cave dwellings. Unfortunately the carvings were made in the soft tuff stone which easily erodes. Many of the drawings have become difficult to see or have disappeared all together.

Even in late September this trail was quite hot, especially without much shade due to the lack of tall trees. We took advantage of this bit of shade to enjoy a little rest and a water break.

 

Our most exciting challenge of this trail was the 16 ft ladder descent, the only way to continue on the trail, unless you turned back the way you came. We had no plans to do that.

Jem went down first and helped Jen. Jax, of course, just scurried down the ladder, like a rat on a ship’s rope. And he was too quick to get a picture of.

Jen was very nervous and concerned about climbing down such a steep and long ladder, but I was so proud of her for not giving up and making it to the bottom.

I must admit, even my tummy was in knots looking down that cliff while preparing for my own climb down the ladder.

It was very exciting and such a thrill, though.

My kidlets cheered me on from down below.

  

 

We only saw a few people from a distance, on this trail, even on a Sunday. And after we had hiked a few hundred yards, I looked back at the ladder and zoomed in with my camera to notice that a family with two young children we’re tackling the tall ladder, too. Such brave and courageous kids. And a wonderfully adventurous family.

 

 

This is that same ladder and the same family, but not zoomed in, just to give a more true perspective of the challenge.

 

This section of trail, returning to the trailhead, was a little more rugged than the first section because it traversed across the cliffside and required hiking up some steeper lines, scooching through narrow parts, climbing and scrambling over, around and between boulders.

(Scooching down a steep section) 

(Squeezing through a narrow section)

(Working our way down a steep section)

 

(Another narrow section just around the bend)

(Negotiating through boulders)

 

Hey! How’d Jen get way up there?

Oohhhhh, I see now.

I guess it’s my turn next. Hmmm. Interesting trail I’m supposed to climb. Wish me luck!

 

Hey guys! Wait up!

Another challenging section of the trail……I named this one: “Diet Rock” Can you guess why?

 

“Suck it in!”

 

(Another challenging, steep section for us to descend)

 

“Did I really just climb down THAT?”

 

Amazing to realize that this is just a one and half mile loop trail. It feels much longer.

 

Hot, tired and thirsty. But we’re almost finished.

 

 

One last ladder to climb down……you can do it, Jen!

We hope you enjoyed coming along with us to hike and explore Tsankawi, but this is finally………..The End!