Tsankawi Ruins Trail

Dogs No Dogs

Features Birding · Cave · Views · Wildflowers

The Tswankawi Ruins Trail is a satellite portion to Bandelier National Monument. Entrance fees can be purchased at the trailhead or at the Bandelier Visitor Center located in Frijoles Canyon, 14 miles away.

A trail guide can be obtained at the trailhead, giving a wealth of information to your journey and directing you as to the best route to take. After a short trip through a juniper-pinon forest, take a ladder up the side of the mesa. There is the option to take an ancient stone staircase or another ladder brings you to the top of the mesa. The trail continues to weave through the juniper-pinon, revealing scenic views of the surrounding canyons, until you reach the un-excavated Tswankawi Pueblo.

Archeologists still study the ruins, so take care of the ancient walls and leave any pottery sherds or obsidian where they lay. Climb down one more ladder and pass some remarkable cavates (often known as cliff dwellings). The footsteps of the Ancestral Puebloeans and modern-day visitors have carved trenches in the soft rock creating unique walkways, some as deep as two to three feet. The final leg of the trail provides petroglyphs hidden everywhere before it leads to a narrow stone walkway back to the trailhead.