Balcony House - Mesa Verde National Park



I have heard of Mesa Verde from everyone - a must see, do-not-miss type of warning. And they were right - it's an amazing National Park. It has been on my list since before I set out.

When I got to the Durango area, I found the campground where two of my fellow solo female RVer were staying. We have been meeting up off and on when our paths cross. It just so happened that the day I got there was their last day at that camp.  When I arrived that morning, they invited me to go to Mesa Verde for the day. Sure - sounded good to me!

 

The park covers a large territory and the roads wind up and down the mountainsides. We had time to do only one tour - Balcony House. At the appointed time, there were about 20 or so people gathered for the tour. After a short briefing, we started down into the canyon by a series of steel stairways. The trail was only a quarter of a mile long, but during that time, we climbed a 32' double ladder to the first rooms. This photo of the ladder was taken after everyone had safely arrived at the top.

The next area was visible through a window between the two living areas.

 

After a briefing about the first area and the construction, the next area was accessed by a skinny tunnel......

The next area contained two kivas, areas that had multiple purposes in the puebloan peoples' lives - ceremonies and socializing. Kivas are always round and sunken. When they were in use, they had ceilings.

During their construction of all these cliff dwellings, they used the existing rock formations and caves as part of their construction, as seen below.

This was the final area of this little neighborhood and we had to exit through a tunnel. This tunnel was so small, we all had to crawl through it, only a few feet until we could stand and then another crawl area for a few feet.

After that, the fun continues, there were steep steps carved into a rock heading up the hill. These had been carved over 800 years ago. They are so steep that, to prevent mishaps, the park has installed heavy chain railings and a safety net on the downhill side.

After a couple of short ladders, the tour was over. Such a great place, such an experience to see how these people lived more than 800 years ago. For some reason, they moved out in 1200 - no one seems to know why.

 

I will be back to do more of their tours of the cliff dwellings and to further explore the park. There is much more to see here.

 

 

 

Mesa Verde - Long House

 

Doesn't look like a good day for a hike. About 25 people waited for the Park Ranger to start his briefing on the tour on which he was going to take us. He said he didn't know what the weather was going to do, but if it rained, we would continue on the hike to the ruins. OK, my major concern was my camera, but then I noticed a machine that dispensed doggy poop bags so people can pick up after their pets. They just happened to be camera size.

 

We walked down a path that zigzagged down the side of the canyon. I could tell it would not be a fun trip back up at this elevation.

We climbed some ladders to get to the back of the alcove that housed the ruins. Toward the back, we found a moist, mossy green area which was water seeping into the ruins. This is where the residents got water while they were living there.

The park ranger was full of statistics and we were told that the residents lived there until almost 1300. They ranged in height from 5'2" to 5'5" and the men lived about 35 years. Women weren't so lucky, they lived until about 22 and had an average of about 8 babies - not all of them lived. They worked hard, building homes, farming, making pottery and clothing. They accessed their homes by carving toe and hand holds in the cliff walls to get up to the mesa. Everything brought back to their homes was carried on their backs down the face of the cliff.

 

 

 

  

Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

 

Today I took a tour to see Cliff Palace, puebloan ruins that were built in an alcove sheltered by a large cliff in a canyon.

These were built around 1200 using local sandstone, a mix of mud and water between the blocks and local wood.

Evidence shows that they traded with neighbors and people from other villages. Seashells from the Pacific has been found here, as well as items from what is now New Mexico and other places.

These residents farmed corn, squash and beans, as well as hunting deer and small mammals.

The exit from this little community was fun - steps carved in a rock canyon, with 3 ladders to make it to the top, all shown in the photos below.
 

 

 

Walnut Canyon National Monument, Arizona

 

Walnut Canyon is located just a few miles south of Interstate 40 just east of Flagstaff.  Walnut Canyon has both a desert environment and a pine/oak forest and was inhabited during the years 800 through 1200 by the Sinagua people.

 

The canyon walls have many large rock overhangs, making it easy for the early settlers to erect thick walls held together with mud to form an enclosure for their homes.  Some of these walls and rooms are still evident today, on both sides of the canyon.

Since this canyon is located at over 6500', there was snowfall in the area.  They built fires in their homes, and the smoke stains still remain on the ceilings of the overhangs.  It is assumed that they covered the door openings with an animal skin to keep out the old.  We can still see the small opening near the ceiling to allow the smoke to escape from the home.

 

The trail to the dwellings winds down from the visitor center, partly path and partly steps, 240 steps throughout the path.  Doesn't seem like much going down, but it certainly does once you start climbing those 240 steps up!

 

As well as living inside the canyon walls, these people built pueblos on the flatlands on the rim, where they farmed crops.  These rooms seem to be much bigger and there are still some that have not been excavated.  In the late 1800s, the area became a popular destination for souvenir hunters scavenging for pottery and other items.   Unfortunately some history was lost until the government declared it a National Monument in 1915.

 

 

Off in the distance, you can still see the snow covered peaks of the San Francisco mountains.

 

And down at the rim of the canyon, wildflowers are blooming.

 

 

 

Bandolier National Monument, New Mexico

This site covers over 30,000 acres and is full of 12^th century cliff dwellings, as well as ruins of adobe dwellings.  There are major cliffs in this area, created by a major volcano eruption over a million years ago.  The many holes of various sizes were caused by erosion.  The Indians in this area enlarged some of the holes for their homes by carving out larger areas. 

In the main area, the cliff dwellings were quite low and reached by walking up a hill and climbing a ladder with possibly a dozen or so rungs.  There are also circular ruins in this area left over from some pueblos built in a field, along with a large Kiva, which was a religious shrine.  They may have been similar to the ones in the first photo above.

 

On the sheer cliff wall, there were many petroglyphs of animals and circles, although it seems that they have faded with the weather.  More evidence of former homes is nearby.

About a half mile hike through the forest area is the Alcove House.  This is a shelter high up on a cliff which is reached by multiple ladders as well as steps built into the cliff.  The sign says that it’s 140 steps up the face of the cliff.

 

After a bit of contemplation, I decided I really needed to climb up to the top, since I came all the way to see it.  Actually, it wasn’t that much worse than climbing ladders to a sailboat sitting in the haulout yard.  Just way more steps to each ladder, of which there were 4.  In the photo below you can see  other ladders in the bottom left. 

 

 

The view from the shelter was great.  It was up about the equivalent of a 14 story building and I was looking at all the tall pines way down at the bottom of the canyon.

 



 

The round stone structure is another Kiva, which had been refurbished since it was excavated in 1908.  There were also a few small caves carved out on the sides of the main shelter.

 

For anyone who might be in the area, it's a great trip.  And for avid hikers, I understand that there are about 70 miles of trails.  Some may require an overnight stay.