June 20 and 21, 2017

Yesterday we left Moab and drove through the San Juan mountains with hopes of cooling off. Perry and Steve started their adventure to other places. We enjoyed our time with them. The mountains we beautiful and the drive every pleasant. I could breath in the mountains and started feeling better. Leighton’s cold caught up with him and he rested while I drove. Mesa Verde is hot but very unique. Today we did the 700 year tour which included going down to cliff palace. We had to climb 4 ladders. It is a hike I will never forget. Loved it.

Driving toward Mesa Verde, we went through the San Juan mountains and enjoyed some pretty scenery.

I would liked to have gotten better photos of the waterfalls but I couldn’t see any way to get there other than a long hike so this is what you get.

We were really surprised at the number of bike riders we encountered in the mountains.  Most were going the opposite direction but this fellow was going the same way we were.  We kept passing each other (we would stop for some reason or other and he would catch up).  Since we kept seeing him I thought a picture was in order.

Some of our stops were to look at the flowers,

some were to look at the seeds.

We saw pretty lakes.,

The park is about 8,000 in elevation and you can see below the long climb to the top.

It was getting late when we reached the top, finished checking in at the lodge and got back on the trail of finding the cliff dwellings.  The first one we saw was tucked under a section of rock that had broken out leaving the alcove.  (It turns out they were all in similar areas.)

You can see the cliffs they built in.  The had to make hand and toe holds to climb up and down or use ladders.

To see these structures in person is a true wonder.  The ancient Puebloans had remarkable skill and tenacity to build these in the cliffs.  Each day they had to climb out and go to the top to do their farming.

Once we got back to the lodge, I took some sunset pictures of the local flowers.

Mesa Verde has “housing” dating from about 600 AD to about 1300 AD.  The earliest versions were basically pits in the ground with wooden poles holding up a roof.  They had a fire pit in the center and smoke would rise through a hole in the top.  There were several problems with this design, first the smoke didn’t always cooperate and they had health issues from smoke inhalation. Second, when it rained the sides of the pits would weep water into the living area.

Over time they figured out that if they mixed urine and some other materials in with the dirt the could form a waterproof type of plaster.  The smoke issue was resolved by adding an air deflector in front of the air intake port.  Below is a latter version showing the air deflector – obviously much more refined over the first pits.

Over time the surface houses became more complex incorporating many rooms.  Many of the rooms appeared to have no access and when I asked one of the workers at the site about this he said he had noticed that but hadn’t asked about it.  I would think if you were working to repair these structures you would be curious about what you were working on.

All of the later versions of these communal living complexes contained one or more of these circular structures they called Kivas.  They were used for mostly ceremonial purposes but may have on occasion been used for pot luck suppers.

Another view of the Kiva.

Since the atmosphere is so dry, the wood doesn’t rot and they found many places with the original wood still in place when they excavated.

Tunnels were sometime used to connect rooms and Kivas.

They also built towers.  I don’t know the purpose but it could have been for storage or just and elevation from which to look around and make sure no one was coming to attack.

After a few hundred years they decided to move into the cliffs and started building in the alcoves that had seeping springs (the water just kind of leaks through the rocks and many are still active today but they don’t let you see them).  Below is an overview of the Cliff Palace we toured.

It was truly amazing the amount of work they had to put into creating these spaces.

Here is a three story structure still containing the original wood beams.

Each day they had to climb to the top to tend their crops, and in many places they only had finger and toe holds to go up and down.

Notice the main building level and the level above that.  They utilized as much space as possible to accommodate as many people as possible.  Toward the end of their time, there were around 10,000 people living in the area.  

I know everyone looks forward to the lizard of the day picture and I didn’t want to disappoint.