Four Corners Part 7: Kokopelli's Cave
Day 6
4pm
"It's up there somewhere."
This I said as we drove south along the La Plata Highway nearing Farmington NM. I had done a little homework and knew Kokopelli's Cave was close by. I was pointing up to our left at the ridge with vertical cliffs towering about 300 feet above the canyon floor, roughly a mile off the road. Actually the wall of the canyon on the right had slowly dropped off to a vast plain that rolled off into the distance. The left wall simply stayed in place and ran parallel to the road.
We had called ahead and got directions from the effervescent Lindy, the manager of the cave. Turning off the highway onto Pinon Hills boulevard we rode a mile or so up and over the face of the ridge along a twisting road and landed into Farmington. Farmington is a big oil and natural gas town with a lot of Santa Fe style adobe homes. Into a local supermarket for some basic supplies then off to Lindy's place for paperwork. She was waiting out front. Lindy was like a cat lady with no cats. Non-stop talking but clearly loving her job. She told us all about the history of the cave and the things necessary to have a good experience staying there. About 30 minutes of that plus many, many waivers later we were off.
The cave was created (blasted out) by a retired rear admiral / now geologist who wanted a cool office. The location and challenging access to it was not admired by the staff (idiots) so he decided make it a home for his son and family. They grew out of it quickly and decided to convert it to the most incredible single guest B&B of all time.
Lindy gave us a walkie talkie so that she could give us a guided tour as we followed her car on the drive out to the cave. The history lesson continued. We drove out of her dense suburban neighborhood onto a very short highway, then a sharp right directly onto a dirt road. Nothing but dirt and rocks. We were approaching the ridge now from the other side essentially driving towards the cliff face from the top. Visions of Thelma and Louise went through my head. I'd put a map link to it here but the resolution of Farmington is hideous. Oh all right!
The owner of the place has leased some of the land for a gas well. We continued on the dirt road, through a gate, passed the local archery range, passed an oil pump, turned by the gas line junction, through a wash, right at the "big" tree and... whoops there's a 300 foot drop over on the left. Staying right we turned and parked near Lindy. We were about 30 feet from the cliff edge.
This spot is literally on top of the cave which is carved out some seventy feet below. The view goes for at least 30 miles. You can see the Shiprock in the distance. We set to walking along the rim to the left, down a sloping cut in the cliff face strewn with boulders, around some craggy rocks, seeing some ominous signs saying variations of Go Away, landing finally at a huge, steel-plate gate. Sliding bolt aside we went further down, along a chain linked ledge, lined with what Lindy described as a coal vein and a petrified tree on its side, finally landing on a large, outcropped ledge with another thin, chain linked fence all around it. Here's a shot looking back at the way we came. A storm was approaching from the east hence the dark clouds above contrasting with the bright sunshine coming from the west.
That gray curving streak in the rock is the coal vein snaking along the right behind the wire link fence. That black hole below the chained ledge is the cave entrance. You can see the green cover over the BBQ grill sitting outside the entrance.
Moving right and looking left a little...
From this ledge we climbed down a set of roughly carved steps and a short, steep ladder and landed at the entrance by the grill. There's a full sized sliding glass door. A quick unlock, lights on and we're inside. The cave is huge, fully furnished, carpeted, kitchen, living room, bedroom, bath with luxurious jacuzzi and a narrow back "deck." The cave is completely artificial in its creation. It was blasted out of solid rock with a small ledge created for the entrance and a second one further along the cliff face for the back deck off the bedroom. It's nearly 1700 square feet of living space with 8 foot ceilings. The natural insulation of the surrounding rock keeps air inside a constant 65-70 degrees year round. It's slightly musty and there's a dehumidifying fan running in the back. The cave is vented by pipes that run straight up through the rock to a spot near the car above. But for the lack of windows and the stone walls this looks like a large apartment.
Here's the living room.
Lindy gave us a few more minutes of review and beat a hasty retreat. We were exhilarated. It's hard to describe how exciting this felt. The place was marvelous. We quickly set about putting some snacks together and had a lovely afternoon view noshing and drinking wine on the back deck.
Note the metal spiked fence in the back. It's a 200 foot drop straight down below.
After our snack I ran outside to get some more snaps. I went up the cliff and along the ledge. Here's another shot of the family out on the deck.
Do you see them? Try clicking through to the Original size. Probably still no luck I'd guess. They're there actually. Waving at the camera.
I'll help. Trying using the Original size as I review this.
Start at the bottom right corner of the photo and follow the right edge up about a quarter of the way. You'll see a large, green bush. The dark spot on the top, left of the bush is the beginnings of a cinder block wall. You can see the blocks stacked just a foot or so high. Immediately above and to the left of the cinder blocks is a shadowed spot. This is the top of the entrance to the cave. You can see there's pretty big rock face in front of it that obscures most of it. Above the cinder blocks and the cave entrance you can see that coal vein and the now barely visible chain link fenced ledge. Follow the coal vein and the ledge along to the left and there is a small green bush with two (seemingly tiny but actually man-sized) rocks to its left. Straight to left of the rocks and just at the edge of the ledge is a solitary bush. It is casting a little shadow to its right. Look just below that bush down the cliff face and you'll see the back deck with Kathleen and the kids looking up at the camera. You might even make out a spot of red that is Mitchell's shirt.
No?
Here this will help.
As you can see the main balcony ledge that begins to the left of the cinder blocks and loops around to form a sort of terrace. It is also protected by a chain link fence and is directly in front of the cave entrance to the right. That balcony hides and protects the entrance. The chain link ledge with the coal vein is above it.
Here's a full close up of the back deck.
It's a huge cliff.
I had to get back in the cave quickly as the storm was really bearing down and looked... well... like this.
You can see a power pole on the top of the cliff. Just below it and barely to the right you can make out a couple windows of the Hummer wedged in those scrubby bushes. The route down to the cave is basically walking left from that spot, along the cliffs edge and down that rocky area that curves down and back to the wire fenced, coal lined ledge. Look at the rocky spot closely and you'll see the huge steel plate door. A brilliantly lit square amongst the tumbled rocks with a dark shadow cast to its right.
Did I mention how utterly stunning this place was? And the light... the contrast of this incredible late afternoon sunshine with the menacingly dark clouds approaching from the east. Words fail me.
I walked back towards the car. Here's another angle with the car much more visible.
I made it back just as the rain began to fall. Walking through the cave and out the back bedroom I joined Kat and Kelsey now lightly sprinkled by the shower. It was doubly exciting because you don't see weather like this in Carmel Valley. Ever.
Here's Kat and Kelsey sitting on that same back deck with me standing at the spiked metal railing shooting inwards towards the bedroom.
Everyone took turns enjoying the indoor, stone waterfall jacuzzi. Refreshed, we fired up the grill, grilled some snausages and corn and enjoyed the meal location of a lifetime. The sunset was muted by the rain storm that swept west but the air cooled, the wind whipped and we giggled with delight. The darkness, coolness and quiet that fell outside was wonderful. The owners of the Cave provide snacks for night visitors. We were told that a modest sprinkling of gak would attract ringtail cats. It did.
We were all exhausted but frankly everyone was too excited to sleep. We managed to drop off somehow.
CLICK HERE for the last part of our Four Corners trip.
4pm
"It's up there somewhere."
This I said as we drove south along the La Plata Highway nearing Farmington NM. I had done a little homework and knew Kokopelli's Cave was close by. I was pointing up to our left at the ridge with vertical cliffs towering about 300 feet above the canyon floor, roughly a mile off the road. Actually the wall of the canyon on the right had slowly dropped off to a vast plain that rolled off into the distance. The left wall simply stayed in place and ran parallel to the road.
We had called ahead and got directions from the effervescent Lindy, the manager of the cave. Turning off the highway onto Pinon Hills boulevard we rode a mile or so up and over the face of the ridge along a twisting road and landed into Farmington. Farmington is a big oil and natural gas town with a lot of Santa Fe style adobe homes. Into a local supermarket for some basic supplies then off to Lindy's place for paperwork. She was waiting out front. Lindy was like a cat lady with no cats. Non-stop talking but clearly loving her job. She told us all about the history of the cave and the things necessary to have a good experience staying there. About 30 minutes of that plus many, many waivers later we were off.
The cave was created (blasted out) by a retired rear admiral / now geologist who wanted a cool office. The location and challenging access to it was not admired by the staff (idiots) so he decided make it a home for his son and family. They grew out of it quickly and decided to convert it to the most incredible single guest B&B of all time.
Lindy gave us a walkie talkie so that she could give us a guided tour as we followed her car on the drive out to the cave. The history lesson continued. We drove out of her dense suburban neighborhood onto a very short highway, then a sharp right directly onto a dirt road. Nothing but dirt and rocks. We were approaching the ridge now from the other side essentially driving towards the cliff face from the top. Visions of Thelma and Louise went through my head. I'd put a map link to it here but the resolution of Farmington is hideous. Oh all right!
The owner of the place has leased some of the land for a gas well. We continued on the dirt road, through a gate, passed the local archery range, passed an oil pump, turned by the gas line junction, through a wash, right at the "big" tree and... whoops there's a 300 foot drop over on the left. Staying right we turned and parked near Lindy. We were about 30 feet from the cliff edge.
This spot is literally on top of the cave which is carved out some seventy feet below. The view goes for at least 30 miles. You can see the Shiprock in the distance. We set to walking along the rim to the left, down a sloping cut in the cliff face strewn with boulders, around some craggy rocks, seeing some ominous signs saying variations of Go Away, landing finally at a huge, steel-plate gate. Sliding bolt aside we went further down, along a chain linked ledge, lined with what Lindy described as a coal vein and a petrified tree on its side, finally landing on a large, outcropped ledge with another thin, chain linked fence all around it. Here's a shot looking back at the way we came. A storm was approaching from the east hence the dark clouds above contrasting with the bright sunshine coming from the west.
That gray curving streak in the rock is the coal vein snaking along the right behind the wire link fence. That black hole below the chained ledge is the cave entrance. You can see the green cover over the BBQ grill sitting outside the entrance.
Moving right and looking left a little...
From this ledge we climbed down a set of roughly carved steps and a short, steep ladder and landed at the entrance by the grill. There's a full sized sliding glass door. A quick unlock, lights on and we're inside. The cave is huge, fully furnished, carpeted, kitchen, living room, bedroom, bath with luxurious jacuzzi and a narrow back "deck." The cave is completely artificial in its creation. It was blasted out of solid rock with a small ledge created for the entrance and a second one further along the cliff face for the back deck off the bedroom. It's nearly 1700 square feet of living space with 8 foot ceilings. The natural insulation of the surrounding rock keeps air inside a constant 65-70 degrees year round. It's slightly musty and there's a dehumidifying fan running in the back. The cave is vented by pipes that run straight up through the rock to a spot near the car above. But for the lack of windows and the stone walls this looks like a large apartment.
Here's the living room.
Lindy gave us a few more minutes of review and beat a hasty retreat. We were exhilarated. It's hard to describe how exciting this felt. The place was marvelous. We quickly set about putting some snacks together and had a lovely afternoon view noshing and drinking wine on the back deck.
Note the metal spiked fence in the back. It's a 200 foot drop straight down below.
After our snack I ran outside to get some more snaps. I went up the cliff and along the ledge. Here's another shot of the family out on the deck.
Do you see them? Try clicking through to the Original size. Probably still no luck I'd guess. They're there actually. Waving at the camera.
I'll help. Trying using the Original size as I review this.
Start at the bottom right corner of the photo and follow the right edge up about a quarter of the way. You'll see a large, green bush. The dark spot on the top, left of the bush is the beginnings of a cinder block wall. You can see the blocks stacked just a foot or so high. Immediately above and to the left of the cinder blocks is a shadowed spot. This is the top of the entrance to the cave. You can see there's pretty big rock face in front of it that obscures most of it. Above the cinder blocks and the cave entrance you can see that coal vein and the now barely visible chain link fenced ledge. Follow the coal vein and the ledge along to the left and there is a small green bush with two (seemingly tiny but actually man-sized) rocks to its left. Straight to left of the rocks and just at the edge of the ledge is a solitary bush. It is casting a little shadow to its right. Look just below that bush down the cliff face and you'll see the back deck with Kathleen and the kids looking up at the camera. You might even make out a spot of red that is Mitchell's shirt.
No?
Here this will help.
As you can see the main balcony ledge that begins to the left of the cinder blocks and loops around to form a sort of terrace. It is also protected by a chain link fence and is directly in front of the cave entrance to the right. That balcony hides and protects the entrance. The chain link ledge with the coal vein is above it.
Here's a full close up of the back deck.
It's a huge cliff.
I had to get back in the cave quickly as the storm was really bearing down and looked... well... like this.
You can see a power pole on the top of the cliff. Just below it and barely to the right you can make out a couple windows of the Hummer wedged in those scrubby bushes. The route down to the cave is basically walking left from that spot, along the cliffs edge and down that rocky area that curves down and back to the wire fenced, coal lined ledge. Look at the rocky spot closely and you'll see the huge steel plate door. A brilliantly lit square amongst the tumbled rocks with a dark shadow cast to its right.
Did I mention how utterly stunning this place was? And the light... the contrast of this incredible late afternoon sunshine with the menacingly dark clouds approaching from the east. Words fail me.
I walked back towards the car. Here's another angle with the car much more visible.
I made it back just as the rain began to fall. Walking through the cave and out the back bedroom I joined Kat and Kelsey now lightly sprinkled by the shower. It was doubly exciting because you don't see weather like this in Carmel Valley. Ever.
Here's Kat and Kelsey sitting on that same back deck with me standing at the spiked metal railing shooting inwards towards the bedroom.
Everyone took turns enjoying the indoor, stone waterfall jacuzzi. Refreshed, we fired up the grill, grilled some snausages and corn and enjoyed the meal location of a lifetime. The sunset was muted by the rain storm that swept west but the air cooled, the wind whipped and we giggled with delight. The darkness, coolness and quiet that fell outside was wonderful. The owners of the Cave provide snacks for night visitors. We were told that a modest sprinkling of gak would attract ringtail cats. It did.
We were all exhausted but frankly everyone was too excited to sleep. We managed to drop off somehow.
CLICK HERE for the last part of our Four Corners trip.
Comments