Bandelier: Fee-Free Day, Photo Hike, Celebration of ‘America Recycles Day’

Visitor Center, Bandelier National Monument. Courtesy/NPS

Cliffs and Tyuonyi Pueblo site, Frijoles Canyon, Bandelier National Monument. Courtesy/NPS

BANDELIER News:

This week Bandelier National Monument is offering three special events:

  • Tuesday, Nov. 11 – Fee-Free Day on Veterans Day;
  • Saturday, Nov. 15 – Photo Hike; and
  • Saturday, Nov. 15 – America Recycles Day.

In honor of Veterans Day, Tuesday will be a Fee-Free Day at National Park areas throughout the country, in which everyone is welcome to visit with no entrance fee. At Bandelier, the Bookstore will have a storewide 15 percent discount, and the Bandelier Trading gift shop will offer specials, too.  

An additional “plus” is that the Ancestral and present-day Pueblo pottery, artifacts, and other irreplaceable museum items that were removed due to the 2011 Las Conchas Fire and resulting floods, are now once again on display. The shuttle buses are no longer running, so visitors can drive directly down to the Visitor Center area.

This is the last Fee-Free Day for 2014, but in 2015, Bandelier will offer Fee-Free Days Jan. 19, Feb. 14-16, April 18-19, Aug. 25, Sept. 26 and Nov. 11.

Saturday Nov. 15, the Bandelier Green Team will host a local event as part of “America Recycles Day”, the nationally recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling all across the country. The team plans to have displays in the Visitor Center, short movies throughout the day, guest speakers from the Los Alamos Co-op Market, and specials on reusable bags at the park Bookstore. Information about recycling in the Los Alamos area is available at losalamosnm.us/gogreen/Pages/default.aspx or 505.662.8163.

Also Saturday, this year’s Bandelier Artist-in-Residence, well-known photographer David Halpern, will offer a photo hike at the Valles Caldera National Preserve. Accompanied by Halpern and Rourke McDermott, the Caldera’s official photographer and landscape architect, the group will “follow the light” to scenic locations in the Preserve. These may include a movie set, the grove of big old-growth trees, and grasslands in the Valle Grande near the head of the East Fork of the Jemez River. It is not a strenuous hike, but rather centered on making photographs.

Participants should wear sturdy shoes and dress in layers to be ready for weather in November at the elevation of over 9,000 feet. Sunscreen and hat, snacks or lunch, and plenty of water will be necessary. A fee of $10/person is charged by the Valles Caldera National Preserve, and will be collected at the time of the hike. Numbers are limited so it is necessary to sign up ahead by calling the Bandelier Visitor Center at 505.672.3861 x 517. Halpern is planning another photo hike in December, in Frijoles Canyon; check at the Visitor Center for details and to sign up.

For details on these events, or other questions about the monument, contact the Bandelier Visitor Center at 505.672.3861 x 517, open daily 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The park website is www.nps.gov/band and the Facebook page is BandelierNPS.

Frijoles Canyon, Bandelier National Monument. Courtesy/NPS

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