Day 4: La Cueva to White Rock

September 15, 2017

Today is another big day of mountain climbing. Up and over Valles Caldera, the highest roads of the tour.

I felt surprisingly good in the morning considering how awful I felt yesterday afternoon. Up at 7:30, on the road at 8:50. Temperature in the 50's when I started but sunny and rising rapidly.

East of La Cueva Lodge NM 4 winds in a big circle to climb 600 feet to the first summit. The trees are tall and dense, so there are few views of the valleys below or the mountains above.

View from a picnic area near the first summit.

After the first summit is a small descent into Valles Caldera. I'm now inside the ancient caldera again. I also entered a zone that burned 3 years ago. Burned trees were almost continuously visible for the next 15 miles.

NM 4 passes through a special part of the ancient supervolcano, Valles Caldera National Preserve. The main feature of the preserve is an immense valley called Valle Grande that is more than 8000 feet elevation. NM 4 goes gradually uphill through Valle Grande. After climbing in forest for many miles it's surprising to see a grassy valley at the top. Valle Grande is a volcanic version of the high "parks" in Colorado.

Valle Grande is a very high valley like Colorado's "parks".

Valle Grande is popular for wildlife watching, especially elk. The valley has a long human history. Anthropologists have found 11,000 year old spear points.

NM 4 in Valle Grande which is inside Valles Caldera.

Valle Grande and the surrounding Valles Caldera supervolcano is sacred to the nearby Indian tribes. Much of the caldera belonged to the Indians until the early the 20th century. But World War 2 changed things dramatically. Suddenly the land was off limits and being used for a secret nuclear laboratory. The Rio Grande pueblo tribes and the Jemez tribe probably don't object to the park, but they still justly resent that their sacred land was confiscated and severely polluted to make the most awful things on earth-atomic bombs.

Looking north in Valle Grande. The rim of Valles Caldera is clearly visible.

NM 4 continues gradually uphill through the valley, then steep uphill through partially burned forest for a mile to the second summit, 9063 feet (2746 m) elevation. Highest elevation of the tour but there was no sign at the summit. Soon after the summit I entered Bandelier National Monument. After climbing to the rim of Valles Caldera 3 times I'm now descending to the Rio Grande valley once again.

Near the second summit which was the highest elevation of the tour.

I had a long and glorious descent from Valles Caldera. Light traffic, tailwind, sun behind my back, temperature in the 70's. Most of the descent is forested but there are many recently burned areas. The fire was huge.

Looking south (into the sun) during the descent. Still many burned trees.

Ahead were my first views of the southernmost Sangre de Cristo mountains which sprawl 200 miles north into Colorado with several 14,000 foot peaks. The southernmost part of the Rocky mountains. As I wrote in a previous journal, I think the name Sangre de Cristo reflects the devotion of the Spanish explorer who named the mountains, not any actual resemblance to the blood of Christ. The mountains are not red.

First good view of the Rio Grande valley and Sangre de Cristo mountains to the east.

NM 4 goes for miles along the southern boundary of Los Alamos National Laboratory which has a tall fence. I passed several "tech areas" but most of them didn't have big buildings like the first tech area I encountered. Most of the buildings are farther north near the city of Los Alamos. The laboratory employs thousands of scientists who design and do research on nuclear weapons. Los Alamos is an island of extreme prosperity surrounded by impoverished Indian tribes.

Descending towards one of many "Tech Areas" in Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Eventually the pines transition to junipers, mesquite, and golden grass. Back to the high desert.

The trees get smaller and more spread out as I descend.

I could have pedaled through Los Alamos but chose to stay on NM 4 to see Bandelier National Monument. NM 4 is longer and hillier but it was an easy decision. See ruins of ancient cliff dwellings or see the place that invented the atomic bomb. This is an Indian Country tour.

The ruins are at the end of a dead-end descent into Frijoles canyon.

Some effort is required to visit Bandelier National Monument on a bicycle. The dead end road is 6.4 miles round trip with 680 feet of climbing. Downhill into Frijoles canyon, uphill to get out. All visitors must hike 1.2 miles to see the ruins.

Cars are prohibited on the park road during the busiest time of day. Then motorized visitors must park in White Rock and ride an Atomic City Transit bus into the park. The car-free hours vary seasonally. Cars were prohibited when I pedaled in. The road had NO traffic. But cars were allowed when I pedaled out 2 hours later.

Descending to the ruins. Valles Caldera in the distance.

I parked the bike at the visitor center and hiked the 1.2 mile loop trail. This is an anthropological park, so visitors are required to stay on the trail. You're not supposed to wander around. And frequent signs warn not to sit or climb on the ruins.

At the bottom of the canyon are the ruins of a 400 room village called Tyuonyi. It has a distinctly circular design and was once 3 stories high. Also the ruins of a very big Kiva (an underground ceremonial space).

I was at the ruins during the warmest time of day. Temperature 80F/27C with no shade. Noticeably warmer than in the forested mountains.

A portion of Tyuonyi ruins in the foreground.

The canyon was once densely populated. Hundreds of people in the village below and hundreds of people in the cave dwellings above. Most Pueblo Indian cliff cities were abandoned in the 1300's but this canyon was inhabited until the mid 1500's. The descendants now live near the Rio Grande in San Ildefonso pueblo and Chochiti pueblo.

Cave dwellings. Natural pockets were expanded by hacking away the soft tufa.

On the left in the photo below is a replica structure built in the 1930's. It doesn't really belong.

Frijoles canyon, Bandelier National Monument.

Tyuonyi ruins once contained 400 rooms on 3 levels.

All the structures are in ruins but you can plainly see the post holes in the cliff walls. Many of the cliff dwellings were 2 and 3 stories. I imagine most of the artifacts and many of the stones were looted long before the park was created in 1916.

The climate must have been wetter 900 years ago when this city was built.

The largest area of cliff dwelling ruins is called Long House.

The post holes make it easy to visualize the multi-level cliff dwellings.

The park was founded in 1916 and named for a Swiss-American anthropologist who advocated for preservation of Pueblo ruins. The name Bandelier is neither Indian nor Spanish.

The entry road and visitor facilities were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's. The visitor facilities are now historic in their own right, excellent examples of site-specific rustic architecture which was a new and untested idea at the time.

Park facilities were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's.

I left the park at 3:30, beginning the big climb to get back to NM 4.

I expected an easy ride to White Rock on NM 4, but it wasn't easy. The road crosses a 200 feet deep canyon. Steep down and steep up. Plus other rolling hills. I arrived in White Rock at 5:15 and got my reserved room at Hampton Inn. More expensive than my typical motel but it's the only lodging in White Rock. $230 for 2 nights. White Rock is a prosperous town of 6000 people, a bedroom community for Los Alamos. It's on a plateau at 6200 feet elevation, 1000 feet above the Rio Grande. The surrounding rock is not white. I don't know why it's called White Rock.

Pedaling to White Rock. More hills than I expected.

In the evening there was much thunder and lightning but not much rain. Dinner was at the nearby Thai restaurant, a rare treat.

Today was a strenuous day because of the climbing, but I feel pretty good. Nevertheless I will take a planned rest day tomorrow. I want to avoid the cumulative exhaustion that was a problem on some previous tours.

When I arrived in White Rock I started to get severe itching. I took off my shirt and found about 20 large red welts with the distinctive line pattern of bed bug bites. My room at La Cueva Lodge had bedbugs! I was not happy. I got bed bugs bites once before and severe itching lasted for a week.

Distance: 46.5 mi. (74.4 km)
Ascent/Descent: +3372/-4678 ft. (+1022/-1418 m)
Average Speed: 8.5 mph (13.6 km/h)
Hiked 1.5 mi. (2.4 km)

Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 143 miles (230 km)

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