Jemez Falls

Thursday we went camping in the Jemez Mountains, about one hour northwest of Albuquerque. The Jemez lie at the edge of a massive ancient caldera, the same set of geothermal features that created the Tent Rocks area. At about 8000 feet, the Jemez area is worlds different than the high desert of Albuquerque, and the Ponderosa forest in which we camped was cool (actually, downright cold at night) and beautiful.

We had originally planned on going all the way to Bandelier National Monument, but the scenery of the Jemez Falls campground and the variety of hikes available convinced us to scale back our plans. We’ve camped at Bandelier once before, so we decided to try a new spot, and our efforts were rewarded.

After dinner Thursday, the kids and I went on a hike around the campground. We scaled a hill on the western edge of the camp area, climbing about 300 feet in a half mile or so. Here is a picture of the two oldest at the peak.

Friday morning we hiked from the picnic area to Jemez Falls, a beautiful 75 foot waterfall the plunges below an observation point. Here are the kids with the falls behind them.

We then drove to Battleship Rock, a massive sandstone outcropping that juts out from the mountain and looks, well, like the front of an aircraft carrier. He hiked along Jemez River for a while in the most lush riparian area I’ve seen in New Mexico. The kids and I again scramble up to mountain a bit. Here Allyson and Isaac stand by a small cave in the soft volcanic rock that has eroded away to expose Battleship Rock.

A hike leads from the falls to Battleship Rock, but it's about 3 miles each way, with a 500 foot elevation change, so we'll save that for next year.