4 Wheels 4 Girls

I had the pleasure of hiking with Luciana to the cliff dwellings at Bandelier. Van and the girls moved quickly ahead of us, anxious to climb up the infamous series of 30 foot ladders and walk through the ancient homes in the cliff alcoves. Luciana wasn’t so sure about the climb, in fact, she was pretty clear that she wasn’t going to be doing it. She wanted me to wait at the bottom with her and look for beavers in the creek. As we approached the dwellings, Van hollered from the top of the first ladder that he would go up and down quickly so he could hang out with Ana while I went up. As it turned out, that wasn’t necessary. As we got to the first ladder, Ana said “I think I’ll go up” and off she went. Any hestitations that I had about going up myself were put aside as I followed her.

Halfway up a 30' ladder

I kept close to Ana as we climbed, holding tight to the rungs of the ladder, ready (somewhat unrealistically) to catch Ana if she slipped. We surprised Van and the older girls as we approached the top. And we were thrilled with making it there. It was an amazing sight, the dwellings themselves and the view of the valley from them. Going down was a bit more nerve wracking, for me at least, Ana seemed to have no problem at all.