Nambe Falls - Nambe Pueblo

Nambe Falls

Staying in Santa Fe for the weekend, we went out to Nambe Falls. The fee is 20 dollars (per vehicle) payable at the ranger station.  Further down the road is a large parking area with shaded picnic/camping sites that surround it.There is an upper trail which we took first. It is short ( less than a half a mile) but very steep with crude "stairs"  in places to aid in your ascent. The last section has very off-camber curves which were a bit slippery because of recent rains. One thing that surprised me upon reaching the top was a massive concrete dam above the falls ( l left it out of the photos). 

There is a reason this fence is here. Do not venture beyond it.

The falls are in a massive (but short) box-slot canyon

It detracts from the naturalness of the setting for sure, but on the other hand it  provides a reliable flow to the falls (which of course can be problematic for many New Mexico waterfalls). The falls are beautiful in photos, of course, but definitely better than I expected in person.

 Nambe Falls

 The lower trail isn't much of a trail, just use paths through the narrow strips of grass and trees along the creek. I initially did a lot of rock hopping, but as I entered the narrow box canyon where there is just the rio and cliffs on either side, the only option was to walk in the water, which during our visit, although flowing gray and murky (from recent rains I guess?) wasn't very deep. There is a lower cascade  that falls may be 10 feet from an upper "pond" that the second tier of the upper falls pours into.

 There are also  many springs that emerge directly from the rock of the cliff face on the left ( facing upstream). I climbed up a rocky slope to the right of the small falls very carefully to see if I could get further views of the upper falls. I could see the bottom half of the second tier, but that was it. 

 I had expected that this was touristy place (and it is at other times, I assume, for sure), but here we were, on a warm Saturday in mid-September and there was only a handful people to be encountered. I was alone in the canyon almost the entire time and was much in gratitude to have this very special place to myself.

Bottom half of second tier of the upper falls.

Rio Nambe 

Lower cascade

Pond below the upper falls.

Narrow passage of the Rio Nambe