Nambe Pueblo

This review is for the waterfall area.
I’m a planner, especially on vacation. You know those people that are like, «Oh, let’s roll into town and go from there.» Yeah, that’s not me. I think I read 3 books on New Mexico before our visit and may or may not have created a spreadsheet.
While driving on the high road from Taos to Santa Fe, my husband spotted a sign for Nambe Lake Falls. It was not on the agenda and a little out of the way. I grudgingly agreed to this detour.
We drive to the ranger’s station and pay our $ 10 to drive back to the start of the trail that leads to the waterfall. It starts to rain. You can imagine how happy I am.
There are several families in campers there enjoying the peaceful and scenic area.
It’s a 15 minute hike to the falls and things got a little slippery and muddy. Once we arrived at the damn and falls, it was worth the short hike.
Exercise+scenic area+photo op = worthwhile.

I feel kind of weird rating a pueblo here… I’m basically rating a village and tourist site for a group of native New Mexicans. At the same time, it was a cool cultural experience that anyone visiting New Mexico should probably do.
We heard about the pueblos through the Santa Fe tourist site and decided it was an absolute must for us. We went to Nambe because we heard about the waterfall and hike that we could do along with visiting it.
The pueblo is a little confusing to visit– well marked off the main highways, it may not be clear that you’re supposed to check in with the Governor’s office. Park here, check in, and listen to the rules (no cameras, don’t climb the kiva).
You can walk the two blocks to the plaza site, and here is where you can see the kiva (ceremonial structure) that has been around since about 1300. SEVEN HUNDRED YEARS OLD! It was amazing to see the adobe that has been maintained to last that long! Other than that the Plaza wasn’t all that exciting. But it was worth it to see that kiva!
After the visit to the pueblo we went to the waterfall area to do the hike. Here we could bring a camera for an additional fee ($ 5) and the car was $ 8 or so. The hike was a little tricky to figure out where to start, but when we figured it out it was a pretty good little hike!
Beautiful scenery (I’m able to post pictures of this because I was able to have my camera), charming waterfall, nice day out.
We also stopped by the tiny gift shop on the way out. Pottery, woven rugs (beautifully done!) and other craftwork from the pueblo were here, if out of our price range (the rugs at 2’x3’ were over $ 100, ceramic bowls 3″ round were over $ 50!).
If you’re going to visit a pueblo, this is not a bad one to visit. IGNORE THE Unilocal MAPPING on this one– it is not in downtown Santa Fe! For more info, you can go to these websites (I couldn’t find the official one for the pueblo):