Letterboxing~Monkey Cave

In early 1973, scientists with Kirtland AFB conducted a series of experiments on a group of monkeys. They were strapped to chairs for five days at a time, testing their abilities to escape from painful shocks while subjected to increasingly higher levels of radiation.

In August 1973, all five of the the juvenile monkeys had had enough of the torture and made a break for it and escaped to the mountains east of Albuquerque. Once free in the Manzanos, the monkeys soon found the cave whose nickname would be their legacy. They swung happily from trees , scampered over the cliffs, and dined on juniper berries and prickly pears. They spent the chilly nights huddled together in the 25 ft deep cave, that was dug as a test pit, decades ago, by UNM Geology students.

Some of the local residents recall being surprised at seeing the monkeys, with shaved heads, running across South 14. Many other locals remember leaving bananas and other food for the monkeys.

In January 1974, UNM anthropology students began observing the monkeys as a 'mountain primate colony'. In February, Kirtland AFB gave the monkeys over to the university. Numerous attempts to capture the animals soon followed, since their road crossings threatened the safety of motorists, and since the growing monkeys had been wearing tight, chain collars when they escaped.

It was not until May of 1974 that the monkeys were finally rounded up using tranquilizers hidden in food. After being treated for frostbite, the monkeys were allegedly released into another, more isolated part of New Mexico.

~Taken from 'Turquoise Tales' by Mike Smith
Published in the Fall/Winter edition of East Mountain Living
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My pal, Fantastyk Voyager and I thought this unique place was the perfect place to hide a letterbox. So I carved the stamp and created the log book, and we drove over to hike up to Monkey Cave. Fantastyk Voyager and my boys crawled into the cave to explore.
Then it was time to have some fun doing some cliff and rock scrambling.
Here's Val~aka~Fantastyk Voyager scrambling down a rock gulley. She's pretty good.
Here's Jax and Val scurrying down the cliff. And here you can see the entire cliff with Monkey Cave in the center. I was impressed with the way the rocks in the cliff curved and bucked and twisted across the cliff face.This is another smaller cave, further up on the cliff, that is beckoning us to come back to explore.

Have fun finding Monkey Cave!