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backcountry hiking. Climb up ladders into the dwellings and imagine what life must have been like here 10,000 years ago. The 5-mile round-trip Falls Trail follows the creek most of the way on its descent down the red canyon walls to the Rio Grande. Though it’s an easy hike, you won’t see many people. Lizards scurry across the path, and yellow-bellied birds flutter past while hawks soar above. The first of the trail’s two waterfalls is a classic tumult against the dry, rocky backdrop, while the second is a gentle tumble from a shallow pool. Take a book and a picnic to the second, about a mile and a half from the trailhead, and sit on the huge boulder under the cottonwoods. You could easily spend hours here in the sun, splashing in the shallow, rocky-bottomed creek and breathing in the desert air.

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BACKCOUNTRY HIKES & HOT SPRINGS

Ask at the Jemez Ranger District ( 575-829-3535) for details on San Antonio Hot Springs, one of the nicest of the area’s many natural hot springs, and unmaintained trails through the Dome Wilderness. The St Peter’s Dome Trail-Number 118 leads to the Dome, a geologic feature formed when magma pushed up the rock, and connects to wilderness trails in Bandelier National Monument.

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Twelve miles north of the monument’s main entrance is Tsankawi, a section of the park that sees very few visitors. Hike along a rocky trail, used by Tewa Pueblo people who lived here in the 1400s, past untouched cliff-dwellings and petroglyphs. You can literally see the soot left from their fires that burned thousands of years ago on the cave ceilings. Sit with the hot, dry wind in your face, in the sublime silence of the desert, and look out over miles upon miles of chalky white and gentle orange mesas, speckled with the low-lying green piñon trees, to the snow-capped Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the distance.

This hike through the Jemez ends at sleepy little Los Alamos. Famous as the birthplace of the atomic bomb, Los Alamos is today home to Los Alamos National Laboratories. Stay at any of a handful of chain motels, and head to Chile Works for breakfast. Popular with scientists and academics in this company town, this tiny shack squeezed next to Sonic serves famously addictive green chile and the best breakfast burrito in the Jemez.

Jennifer Denniston

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TRIP INFORMATION

GETTING THERE

Albuquerque lies at the intersection of I-40 and I-25, 63 miles from Santa Fe.

DO

Walatowa Visitor Center

Small museum on the history and culture of the Jemez Pueblo. Also provides hiking maps and details. 505-834-7235; 7413 Hwy 4, Jemez Pueblo; 8am-5pm daily;

Giggling Springs Hot Springs

Sip fresh smoothies and three-berry tea at these privately owned natural hot springs. 575-829-9175; www.gigglingsprings.com; 40 Abousleman Loop, Jemez Springs; per hr/day $15/35; 11am-12pm Wed-Sun

Bandelier National Monument

Spectacular 32,000-acre national monument includes 70 miles of trails and some of best and most accessible Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings in New Mexico. 505-672-3861; www.nps.gov/band; 15 Entrance Rd, Los Alamos; per vehicle $12 (7 days); 8am-6pm Jun-Aug, 9am-4:30pm Aug-May;

Valles Caldera National Preserve

Advance reservations required for hikes in this 89,000-acre preserve. 866-382-5537; www.vallescaldera.gov; 18161 Hwy 4; hiking adult/child $10/5, van tours $5; walk-in van tours 10am, 12pm, 2pm & 4pm daily May-Oct;

EAT

Range Café

Fuel up with huge plates of 21st-century diner fare before winding up into the Jemez. 505-867-1700; 925 Camino del Pueblo, Bernalillo; mains $6-15; 7:30am-9pm Sun-Thu, to 10pm Fri & Sat;

Laughing Lizard Inn & Café

Patio dining and an eclectic menu in the tiny mountain town of Jemez Springs. 505-867-1700; 925 Camino del Pueblo, Bernalillo; mains $6-15; 7:30am-9pm Sun-Thu, to 10pm Fri &Sat;

Chili Works

Walk-up window with New Mexican fare drenched in some of the best chile in New Mexico. Cash only. 505-662-7591; 1743 Trinity Dr, Los Alamos; mains $5; 6am-2pm Mon-Sat;

DRINK

Los Ojos Restaurant & Saloon