The Tsankawi section of Bandelier National Monument is located on NM-4 twelve miles from the main section of the park. At Tsankawi you take a 1.5-mile walk along a mesa, viewing cavates, petroglyphs, and the Ancestral Pueblo village of Tsankawi. Ladders are a required part of this trail. The trail is very exposed to the elements and should not be taken during localized thunderstorms. Cold, snowy weather can make the trail slippery so extra care should be taken when visiting in winter.

Unfortunately, Tsankawi is not the easiest place to find.

• Coming from Santa Fe you’ll turn from NM-502 to NM-4. Less than 0.25 miles past this turn Tsankawi will be located on the left-hand side of the road. There are no signs for Tsankawi on NM-4. If you get to the stoplight, you’ve gone too far. A large gravel parking area adjacent to the highway and a sign on the fence will indicate you’ve found the place.
• Coming from Bandelier, Tsankawi is much easier to find. Just past the 3rd stoplight, the gravel parking lot for Tsankawi will be on your right-hand side.

Bandelier National Monument sits at the southern end of the Pajarito (Spanish for little bird) Plateau. The plateau was formed by two eruptions 1.6 and 1.4 million years ago. Home to the Bandelier Wilderness, Bandelier ranges from 5340 ft at the Rio Grande to the south and 10199 ft at the summit of Cerro Grande to the north, almost a mile of elevation change in just under 12 miles. This elevation gradient creates a unique diversity of habitats specific to Northern New Mexico. The diversity of habitats and quick access to water supported a relatively large population of Ancestral Pueblo people. Currently, Piñon-Juniper woodlands dominate in the southern parts of the park transitioning through ponderosa pine savannahs and forests finally reaching mixed conifer forests at the highest elevation. Scattered throughout the park are desert grasslands, montane meadows, and riparian areas in the canyon bottoms. Bandelier is home to a wide variety of wildlife. The backcountry trails at Bandelier climb in and out of deep canyons and cross large flat mesas, showcasing the entire spectrum of volcanic geology.

Bandelier is set within vast amounts of open space. North and west of the park rests the Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP), an 89,000-acre nature preserve, which was created by the eruptions that formed the Pajarito Plateau followed by volcanic subsidence. On all sides of the park sits over one million acres of the Santa Fe National Forest, with the Dome Wilderness adjoining the western edge of Bandelier Wilderness. A large portion of the northeastern boundary is shared with Los Alamos National Lab, which covers 26,500 acres of restricted, mostly open space. Bandelier’s direct neighbors make the park’s 34,000 acres feel much larger than it is.

Access to Bandelier National Monument is by a free shuttle bus in the summer months.