MESA VERDE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2009
Breakfast over and we are on our way to Mesa Verde, a national park in Colorado,where native American Indians once lived in prehistoric cliff dwellings. The name is Spanish for "green table. They gave it this name because the soil was fertile and well watered on the mesa tops. As we drew near to Mesa Verde, and saw this huge cliff sticking out of the ground, we were again overwhelmed by the structure....the landscape....

These were some of the landscape we saw as we drove from the entrance to the visitor center.(about 15 miles)

We arrived early to make reservations for the bus tour. The other guided tours were too strenuous for two old people like us. They involved climbing up ladders to the various cliff dwellings and a lot of steep climbing up to those sites. Unfortunately all the bus tours were filled up for the day. However, the ranger suggested that we take a self-guided tour. We chose to cover the Chapin Mesa first. We would drive to various locations and visit sites along Chapin Mesa that were easily accessible by some walking but not strenuous walking. So with map in hand we took off. The photos that I have uploaded (and I took a lot of photos) will give you an idea how adept these people were in building, artistic in their crafts, and skillful at making a living from a difficult land.

You will note from the photos that they built their dwellings beneath the overhanging cliffs. Their basic construction material was sandstone that they shaped to rectangular blocks about the size of a loaf of bread. The mortar between the blocks was a mixture of dirt and water. Living rooms averaged about six by eight feet, space enough for two or three persons. The upper rooms were used to store crops. They were experienced builders..walls are tall and straight.

This is a photo of what is called the the Spruce Tree House This was one of the largest villages in Mesa Verde. It has 129 rooms and eight Kivas (ceremonial rooms). Some 60-90 persons lived here at any time. They grew squash, corn and beans on the mesa tops. Get this! They reached their fields by hand and toe hold trails pecked into the canyon walls. I guess we were not the first to create "climbing walls." These dwellings were built around 1100 to 1200 AD. Before Columbus discovered America.

It sounds like I am giving a travelogue......You have to be here.... to see the ingenuity of these people. A people who through their culture have given us certain foods,medicines, tools, crafts, etc. When the cliff dwellers of Mesa Verde left, around 1300 AD, they traveled south into New Mexico and Arizona. Some of the native people there are descendants of these cliff dwellers. I thought I would add a few more of their dwellings found in Mesa Verde

After we completed visiting the Chapin Mesa we drove over to another mesa called the Wetherill Mesa. This Mesa was a less developed area. The road to the Information center of this Mesa was only 12 miles. Bt those 12 miles were the scariest miles in the park. In many spots you could (at least I wouldn't) not go more than 30 miles per hour....climbing zig-zag-zig-zag.....Few railings.

Ten miles into the trip I looked down and discovered that my gas tank was only a quarter of a tank full. I estimated that I had enough gas to go 40 more miles. And I knew that climbing up these mountains sides was eating up my gas. We still had not reached the ranger station where we could board a tram that would take us around the various sites on this Mesa. I did not want to get stuck on the mountain side with no gas. I estimated that I had just enough gas to turn around and get back to the closest gas station which was in Cortez where we were staying. So I turned around the first chance I had and headed back up that scary mountain side and headed for a Gas Station. By the time we got back to that station it was about 5:oo pm . I filled up with 17 gal. My tank hold 18. We were home......Praise the Lord! Tomorrow we leave for Grand Canyon. That is only about 300 mile trip.

By the way this is the steam engine that pulled the train we took in Durango.