Sandia Man Cave

Okay so this post is gonna be a little long but it was a GREAT DAY! Thursday of last week I decided that we need a family outing that would be nice for all of us but also didn't cost much if anything. I decided that for the price of gas and a home made lunch we should go hiking. I told James to figure out where we should go (because he knows the area much better than me) and I'd take care of the rest.

Saturday morning arrived and I was so excited! I got up at 8/8:30am and went to get Brynlee who then layed with Daddy while I took cowgirl out and got dressed for the day.

I Made our lunch and got things together while James got Brynlee dressed, put together cowgirl's pack, and got dressed himself. Then we hit the road.... Brynlee was excited to go some where but not so happy once on the road.
Cowgirl was VERY happy to be going any where in the jeep!
We got up into the woods where it was a bit cooler but very pretty!
The views where amazing!
After Brynlee screamed and cried she fell asleep until we parked the car.
More views off the mtn
When we finally got there it was beautiful. We put cowgirl's pack on her, I put on the back pack full of our lunch and supplies, and James......
Put on the Brynlee pack!
James told me that this cave was once excavated by the local university as a "man cave" a cave where people once lived. They think that up to 4 people once lived in this cave. They found tools and things that show that they where here. 100's of years ago I am sure the terrain was much different and that this "man cave" was close to the stream, or possibly back then river, so this cave would have been ideal shelter with water and food near by.
Cowgirl and Brynlee where very interested in the rocks
As we got closer you could see a second cave that James informed me he and his friends had tried to repell into once but where unable to find a good place to anchor the rope.
As you can see in these two pictures metal and cement structures have been constructed to get to the cave. if the land scape was no different the people living in this cave would have had to be monkeys or absolutely amazing rock climbers!
I did realize something on this trip.... height and caves where two things that where kind of neat and I liked to explore but because Cowgirl was scared to come up the spiral stair case I went up alone first. For some reason, this height and being in the cave alone made me nervous. Nervous enough that I even forgot to take off my sun glasses in the cave and when I got down didn't realize why it was so hard to see in the dark cave until my husband pointed out my silly mistake.
Brynlee seemed to like hiking!
This is the cave's entrance. If you go in and just to the left....
You see this. Yes that is a brick wall with a whole in it. I guess while excavation they bricked it up to prevent hikers and partiers out of the site. James says that past this wall it drops down and goes back another 30-40 feet.
After I came back down James went up with Brynlee and they got to see a bat chasing a fly inside the cave. He of course remembered to take off his sun glasses. Cowgirl was very concerned and whimpered the whole Time James and Brynlee where out of site.
Coming down those steep, narrow, spiral stairs can be a bit nerve racking.
But Brynlee had NO fear!
We where so high up...
But she loved it! She was mad when we started back down!
When we got back to the jeep,
We ate lunch!
Mom was bad and forgot Brynlee shoes so Brynlee ate PB&J, grapes, and chips in the back of jeep.
I tried but was unable to escape the camera. I think they say the camera adds 10 lbs just to make people feel better...... Since having Brynlee Pictures are one of my least favorite things to be in.
As you can see Brynlee Really enjoyed her lunch!
So did I. Cowgirl enjoys being a Jeep dog.
After lunch we went across the dirt road to see the small stream. it was really pretty. Cowgirl liked getting her paws wet. (another reason I love the jeep. Wet dog is not a big deal.)
At the end of the day we where all pretty tiered and happy but Cowgirl showed it best.