Santa Fe resident Sean Thomas takes in the view while looking out of a cave in the Tsankawi unit of Bandelier National Monument during a 2021 hike. Bandelier closed the area in April 2023 to work on a construction project.
Santa Fe resident Sean Thomas takes in the view while looking out of a cave in the Tsankawi unit of Bandelier National Monument during a 2021 hike. Bandelier closed the area in April 2023 to work on a construction project.
Closed since April 2023, the Tsankawi unit of Bandelier National Monument is set to reopen Thursday following the completion of a project to improve traffic flow to the site, the park announced Wednesday in a news release.
Set apart from the main portion of Bandelier, the 826-acre Tsankawi unit is near the junction of N.M. 4 and East Jemez Road outside White Rock. A new parking area and access road were built during the closure of the unit, which features a 1½-mile trail that takes hikers along a mesa and past small caves, petroglyphs and the Ancestral Pueblo village of Tsankawi that was inhabited in the 1400s and 1500s.
Along with the traffic flow project, work was completed to reroute the Tsankawi Loop Trail around the Ancestral Pueblo site in accordance with the 2014 Tsankawi Unit Management Plan.
“We are pleased to officially welcome everybody back to Tsankawi,” Bandelier Superintendent Patrick Suddath said in the release. “This is a very sacred and special place to our tribal partners at the Pueblo of San Ildefonso. We hope that everyone visits respectfully and comes away with a sense of its cultural and spiritual importance.”
The project was expected to be completed in October. Construction delays pushed the reopening to before summer 2024.
The park announced May 10 a loss of power to the site impacted visitor facilities at Tsankawi and resulted in an extension of the closure.
A soft reopening of the site occurred Saturday and portable restrooms were brought in to expedite the reopening, according to the news release.
Bandelier National Monument entrance fees apply at the Tsankawi unit. Fees are $25 per private vehicle, $20 for motorcycles and $15 for people entering on foot or by bicycle. An automated payment kiosk is at the site.
