Today I had one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I drove a little less than an hour away from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to visit a detached portion of Bamboo National Monument. That's my dog. She's getting excited, too, called Sankey. And what is amazing about it is it is an ancient village where Puebloans lived and treaded these same paths and occupied these dwellings over 700 years ago. Now you can read much more about the history of this area on your own
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:34
One of the funnest parts of hiking here was that you had the option to follow some of these very narrow paths between rock formations. Or you could take a ladder to get up to the next Plateau. So, of course, I chose the ladder because so fun. And I felt like a little kid again, the most. I felt like one in quite a while. I could not stop smiling and laughing. Climbing up and down these ladders. It was such a blast
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:01
But there was one in particular that almost looked like some sort of Firefly or something that was flying around me as I walked on this Plateau. And it was beautiful. I especially loved observing the different kinds of cacti that are unlike anything where I grew up in Pennsylvania. So that has been particularly interesting for me, and I would love to learn more just generally, the plants in this region
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:44
The most treacherous but also exciting part of this hike is you eventually get to a point where the path really, really narrows to another ladder you have to climb down if you want to get to the dwelling where the Puebloans lived. I was a little nervous. I was wearing, like my hiking style sneakers, but it still was a little uncertain. I guess I should say there are definitely a couple times where I flipped and needed to make sure I had four point contact for sure
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:16
I told you it was worth it. Am I right? This is a view from inside one of the dwellings. And it just completely took my breath away. I can't stop staring at it. It's amazing
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:55
I thought that I was only going to see this swelling and a few other smaller ones. But as I was walking along, I noticed some people on a path below me, but I couldn't figure out how they got there. I ended up running into them a few minutes later, and I asked them how they got down there, and he said I should circle back to the dwellings I was at and look for a path down. It's a little difficult to find, but not impossible
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:42
I think it's almost impossible to really capture the true beauty of this place. The rock formations are just all so diverse and incredible. And I think these pictures do a lot little bit of justice to the experience of being there, but it's nothing like actually taking into place and getting to see the intricacies of the rock formations up close. I highly recommend making it here if you can. And I want to say a special thanks to Phil, who recommended this particular spot at Van Delier
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:20
Also, this is one of the many petroglyphs that I got to see on the rocks. And I loved this one because it kind of looks like a snake. I like imagining it being a Dragon, but I'm wondering if maybe you see something that I don't see
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:37
I hope that you enjoyed coming along for this hike as much as I enjoyed getting to experience it and document what I could so I could share such an incredible place with you. This photo is of me waiting for extraterrestrial life to come find me and take me home, which feels like an appropriate way to end this. Well, here's to exploring new places that are old and also that allow us to imagine other worlds. Happy travels, y'all
