Today I want to share with you a little gem my husband and I discovered in Farmington, NM. It is called Kokopelli’s Cave and it’s a special adventure that I urge you to go on.
Farmington is a bit odd and it has a lot of darkness in its past. Nevertheless, I’m able to appreciate the gorgeous mountains around it and the fusion of indigenous, Spanish, and German cultures here. The town is also an important source of oil and natural gas that helps drive New Mexico’s economy.
And, of course, I always get a giggle when I see this:
Kokopelli’s Cave is a man-made cave where you can spend the night. It was excavated into a sandstone cliff near Chokecherry Canyon in Farmington. It overlooks La Plata River valley. To get there, you need to follow a guide, who will arrange a meeting with you at a nearby church before leading you back.
Parking is in a garage that you can lock for security. You then hike down the side of the cliff to the cave mouth.
The hike is pretty easy, though I imagine it could be difficult if you have bad knees or any disability.
The cave itself stays cool year-round, around 68 degrees. It is a huge, round room built around a central column.
There is a kitchen with modern amenities and some food, a living room with TV, and a kiva.
In a separate area, there is a bedroom with a balcony and plenty of drawers.
The bathroom is cute with a whirlpool tub. My favorite touch was the sliced geode knobs. It took over 4 hours to fill the tub and it wasn’t the most relaxing soak as the stony headrest was uncomfortable, but it was still a cool experience.
The wildlife here is incredible. We watched chipmunks, birds, and huge rock squirrels eating the food left out for them on the balcony.
People leave behind rocks with their names in clever places. Some people also leave behind artwork made from the corks of the complimentary bottle of wine you get with your stay. The place is positively overflowing with rocks and cork art at this point. Several volumes of guestbooks are left in the cave to rifle through and add your own perspective, too. It is fascinating, looking at the tiny traces of decades of guests and imagining who they are, what they experienced here, and where they are now.
Someone also hid a scavenger hunt here which we enjoyed following.
We eventually decided to head into Farmington for some food. We got quite delicious New Mexican food from the Chile Pod. On our way home, we drove down Highway 170 to see if we could spot our cave in the cliff wall. We could, but it was just a tiny pinprick of light. You wouldn’t guess what it was from if you didn’t already know.
After enjoying time indoors, feeling like the Flintstones, we went out onto the balcony off of our bedroom to enjoy the evening. A bat swooped overhead and I could hear an owl hooting in the cliff below. The valley before me was still, save for the occasional car driving by on Highway 170.As I sipped a glass of wine, I was hit by the strongest sense of sonder.
We spent a very peaceful night here. It did get cold, so we were grateful for all of the heaters and the velvet curtains for the bedroom doors. I thought sleeping in a cave would creep me out, but it was actually the best I’ve slept in a while. I relished the quiet.
This cave took five months to excavate out of the soft Ojo Alamo sandstone. It’s been in operation since 1981. Bruce Black was a geologist who originally created Kokopelli’s Cave for an office while he consulted for natural gas and coal deposits. Ultimately, he decided the cave was too difficult to walk to every day for work, so he and his wife Marj turned into a bed and breakfast. It is now operated by their son, Buz Black.
Our Adventure the Next Day
There is lots to do in the Four Corners region. We decided to make the best of our time up there and visit the Four Corners. So, next day, we headed to the Four Corner Monument and we drove past Shiprock on our way. Shiprock is a volcanic monadnok rising sharply from the basin floor around it. It is extremely sacred to the Navajo people and is a prominent feature on Navajo Nation.
Then we visited the iconic Four Corners Monument. We also hiked around the area and bought some art from local vendors. There is lots to see and do around here.
The return home took us through some eerie sandstone formations and monadnocks in the southern edge of Colorado. Then we returned to New Mexico via Hwy 491, but my grandmother’s old GPS still reads it as US 666.
This highway is particularly deadly due to wildlife crossings, so that and its name gave it quite the bad reputation. Local kids kept stealing the highway signs, too. So the US rebranded it “Us Hwy 491” in 2003.
People still say it is cursed and haunted by apparitions, such as a girl in a white dress who supposedly walks this road and disappears when you take a second look at her. There are also unexplained traffic accidents and disappearing drivers that make this road dangerous even today. Native American legend says that skinwalkers haunt this region.
My favorite Hwy 666 legend is actually the tale of Satan’s Sedan. The story is that if you drive this highway at night, you will see a pair of headlights gaining on you at rapid speeds. Even if you speed up, the headlights still come dangerously close to crashing into you. If you pull over to let the black sedan pass, you will find there was no car there at all.
We went during the day, so we didn’t see any mysterious spectral sedans, skinwalkers, or girls in white dresses. We were pleasantly surprised by the desolation of the reservation and the many authentic hogans along the road, however. It was a pleasant drive. But there isn’t much out there and service is spotty, so you better hope you don’t get car trouble!
There is so much to do in the Four Corners area. It is truly a treasure trove of culture and history. While we didn’t experience any weird phenomena, the area does have an interesting vibe that I can’t place my finger on. I look forward to going back.