On the way I saw the hanging flume. A 13 mile canal and flume were built to bring water to the gold miners. The hanging flume, which is 4 ft long and 4 ft wide, carries 23 1/2 million gallons of water a day! This is the canal:
The road for much of the way after the twisties in Gateway was desert with some smaller mountains off in the distance. There were hills with rocks protruding out at odd angles and long stretches of fields.
Finally, after a long drive, I arrived at Mesa Verde National Park. This is a must see for anyone in the area (hint, hint Annie) as it's a unique change from just looking at rock formations. The first part of the park is a long and scenic drive with overlooks of the valleys below.
From up high, you can see the Mancos Valley. In the 1890s, when the dwellings were discovered, they didn't have cars yet. Going from Mancos Valley into the cliff dwellings used to take those traveling by foot about 3 days with strenuous climbs. In the early 1900s a path for cars shortened the trip to under 3 hours. The road that we use is sooooo much better than it used to be! Back in the 1920s, the road was called Knife Edge Road and was narrow with the edge of the cliff a heartbeat away. Park staff had to continually remove boulders and rocks that fell onto the path to keep it clear for traffic. Of course now it is a paved road without high risk of rockslides.
From the top (in the pictures above), you can see the Montezuma Valley as well. There's the Hovenweep Castle and Yucca House - both national monuments now. The Canyons of the Ancients are down there as well. Here are more overlook pictures:
Then I hiked to Park Point, which is the highest point in Mesa Verde at 8500 feet. The trail ends at the fire lookout, which was used to spot wild fires and had 100 miles of visibility. You can see Angel Peak, Shiprock, and the Chuska, Carrizo, La Sal, and Sleeping Ute Mountains.
Here are a few more:
Mesa Verde and the valleys are where the Ancestral Puebloan homelands were. During the 1200s, they estimate that about 35,000 people lived there!! Almost everything happened in these small villages. Women did the pottery and men did the weaving. They gathered food and firewood, tended crops, prepared meals, sharpened tools, taught children, and held ceremonies.
The first area I went to were the Far View sites. This was one of the most densely populated area of Mesa Verde. There was an estimated 50 villages within a 1/2 sq mile!! Included in this are the ones shown below:
First is the Far View House, which had more than 50 rooms and numerous families stayed there.
Then I saw the Pipe Shrine House.
Next is Coyote Village. Many of the Pueblo societies are both matrilineal and matrilocal, meaning property and clan affiliation are passed down through the female's side of the family.
"The family, the dwelling house, and the field are inseparable, because the woman is the heart of these, and they rest with her... The man builds the house but the woman is the owner, because she repairs and preserves it; the man cultivates the field, but he renders its harvest into the woman's keeping." -Letter to Washington Chiefs
This is the Megalithic House, also part of this community.
After visiting the Far View sites, I drove through an area full of dead trees to get to the next village.
Towers can be found in many of the villages. It is thought that these are special observation locations or ceremonial sites. Some towers are connected to kivas (ceremonial chambers), and some, like this Cedar Tree Tower, may have been the center for social events.
Mesa Verde has a museum with dioramas of what they thought the villages looked like, as well as articles of clothing, pottery, baskets, tools, and other items from these Pueblos.
10-15,000 years ago, America's first inhabitants were hunters and gatherers. They used spear points and hunted bison.
The basket making period was about 1600 years ago. They started growing corn and squash in the fields, and took shelter in the alcoves, which is where later Puebleans build the villages. The basketmakers hunted deer and rabbit with throwing sticks. They made clothes from the skin of animals. As far as the baskets they made... Some were sealed with pitch to hold water and food. Hot stones were dropped in to cook the food.
1300 years ago was the Modified basket making period. That's the first evidence of the Pueblo people living in Mesa Verde. They abandoned their nomadic lifestyle for putting down roots and started to use more agriculture. Pithouses were their permanent homes, often found in the alcoves of the canyon rocks for shelter. The round underground pits that looked like swimming pools are their homes. They had a bench all the way around for sitting and 4-6 timbers in the corners to support the heavy roofs. The hole in the roof served 2 purposes - ventilation from the fire inside and as an entrance to put a ladder. A ventilator shaft under the wall leading outside also helped circulate fresh air. These people also started using bow and arrow, and learned to make pottery.
1200 years ago was the development of the true pueblo village. During this period were new farming techniques and lots of pottery making. In their homes, they now had some that connected via tunnels, and they built storage areas. A deep pit area in front of the village was used for ceremonies. The grooved ax was also used to make the houses and villages.
The classic pueblo period was about 900 years ago. These are what most of the homes you will see in the rest of the pictures of the cliff dwellings are like. The natural alcoves in the rocks are where the villages were built. Some were hard to get to and were at higher elevations. Walls were built using sandstone blocks using mud mortar and the roofs were built using poles, bark, and mud. Courtyards are in front, where the daily activities took place. The circular rooms beneath the courtyard are like today's kivas. The people farmed on the mesa tops. Water would be carried from the springs in the canyon. For hunting, they used clubs, snares, and the bow and arrow. They also had axes, drills, and knives.
The first cliff dwelling that I explored was the Spruce Tree House. It has 114 rooms and 8 kivas, which held about 150 people. There are a bunch of switchbacks to get to the house - easy on the way down and a little hard to get back up - but it was beautiful!!
After the Spruce Tree House I wanted to go to the Wetherill Mesa area but it was closed, so I bought tickets for the 5:00 tour of the largest cliff dwelling and set off to explore the other villages.
Here is one of the pithouses mentioned above. There isn't much left, but back in the day, this would have had a storage pit and fire pit. Timber would have been in the 4 corner post holes to support a roof, and there probably would also have been a smoke hole. The grinding stone and slab were for grinding corn. Dried corn could be stored in pottery for years, allowing survival in the cold winters.
This is the Navajo Canyon. The people had to climb the rocks to get to their villages, which were pretty isolated from others. The steep climbs to get from village to village kept them from being in isolation, and allowed them to share and exchange their goods for others.
Even before they used the cliff dwellings to build villages, they were used as shelter for sleeping and resting. Here is the Square Tower House.
Here are a few more pithouses and pueblos from 700-950 AD.
The next stop was Sun Point pueblo from the 1200 ADs.
Here is Sun Point view. From here, you can see Cliff Palace, the remnants of a 20 room dwelling, a village of 15 rooms, and Sunset House.
Here is the Oak Tree House from 1250 AD. On this (and all the homes) you can see the black streaks from cooking fire smoke staining the canyon walls wherever there were alcoves and villages. The Anasazi people built retaining walls and filled in the floors to compensate for the sloping floors of the alcoves. This helped support the rooms and was safer for children to play. Every inch of the alcove space, including deep behind the alcoves, were used. The tops also had storage rooms. This particular village had 50 rooms and 6 kivas.
The fire temple was next. There is no evidence of habitation despite the construction. The central pit was too large for domestic fires, so it was probably used for ceremonial gatherings. On the right is the new fire house, which is a split-level village that used natural ledges. You can see the hand and toe trail connecting the 2 levels. There was probably also a ladder.
Here is a close up of the Sun Temple. It was never finished as there is no evidence of a roof.
The most impressive place in Mesa Verde is the Cliff Palace. These are views from the overlook. To survive in this (and other) villages, everyone young and old worked hard in all seasons. Of course, I had to include the picture of a lizard who was roaming around as well...
I then went on the guided tour, which takes you down into the alcove to see the Cliff Palace up close. We had a large group, so it went rather slow, but I learned a lot about the people and their homes. It was also a fun hike down and back, consisting of odd shaped stone steps and ladders.
On the way back through the loop to the main road there were a few other overlooks of the canyons. In the Cliff Canyon Overlook there are several villages including the House of Many Windows, Sun Point Dwelling, and the Sun Temple.
And here is the Hemenway House. Some of the dwellings, including this one, were partially excavated by those who found them. Artifacts were taken as well, which prompted turning this into a National Park.
Last but not least is the Balcony House. A person could sit up on the balcony, work, and still keep an eye on the children. The wall in front kept children from falling as well.
In order to view the Balcony House, you have to go on a 3/4 mile hike to the overlook, but it is well worth it. This is the other cliff dwelling that you can only access via guided tour. If you only have time for one, I strongly recommend the Cliff Palace. I didn't take this tour, but did hike to the overlook, which is in the Soda Canyon.
There are a few other cliff dwellings in addition to the Balcony House that can be seen from here.
I left the park about 6:30 PM, spending much more time there than expected, but it was amazing!!! The scenery on the road was incredible as well. You could see the white capped mountains in the distance and there were occasional rock formations that cropped out of the desert.
I decided to stop by the Canyon of the Ancients, but wasn't overly impressed. It was also getting late and the road was not paved and full of potholes and rocks making it a bit of a challenge. I went on one hike on the Painted Hand Pueblo. A tower, sleeping rooms, and storage structure survived. There are petroglyphs and pictographs that was not able to see.
The sunset was beautiful despite no clouds.
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