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Access by Shuttle Bus Only
Starting May 24, 2013 all access to the most visited part of the park, Frijoles Canyon, will be via a mandatory shuttle bus from the nearby community of White Rock from 9 AM - 3 PM daily. Private cars may drive in before 9 AM or after 3 PM. More »
High Water Events 2012
Photos by Kay Beeley After a fire, hillsides are denuded of vegetation (think of how each leaf catches and temporarily holds drops of water) and scorched soils are covered by a more impervious surface, leaving little to slow down the water from downpours from collecting and filling watersheds. As a result, flash floods often follow landscape altering fires such as the Las Conchas fire that burned much of Bandelier in 2011. On August 21, 2011 (just 2 months after the fire) all of Bandelier's canyons were hit by flash flood events. In 2012, the expectation was that additional large flood events would occur. However, the summer rains were less than expected and resulted only in more than a dozen high-water events (when the creek rises within its banks but doesn't spill out in the area near the park visitor center). Detailed information on some of those events is found below. August 15, 2012 |
Did You Know?
Mule deer fawns only keep their spots for the first several months of life. These spots provide camouflage for the young animals when their mothers must leave them to feed.