Cliff Dwellers

Day 172 - Cortez, CO - Partly Sunny Mid 40's:

Today we got moving after a nice breakfast and made the three two and a half hour drive to Mesa Verde National Park. On our drive from Kayenta we drove right by the Four Corners Navajo Monument but unfortunately it was closed due to constructions. So, I woke Heather up to take a couple of picture of pictures of the sign and decided that it will have to be a place we come back to.

We made it to Mesa Verde around 1:30 this afternoon and made a quick stop at the visitor center to buy tickets to tour the Cliff Palace House and the Balcony House. We didn't have much time so we quickly drove to the Cliff Palace House and got there just as the tour was starting. From the overlook we got our first look at the Ancestral Pueblo Cliff Dwellings. They are really amazing!! Our ranger gave us some quick background information on the Pueblo people and how they still don't know exactly why they constructed and moved into the cliff dwellings to just turn around and move out in less then 100 years.

The Pueblo people were mesa top farmers and primarily grew corn, beans, and squash. They began by constructing pit houses on the mesa around 600 A.D. These houses were dug into the earth a couple feet and then adobe and pole walls were constructed on top of hole. Then for the next 600 years they began to use stone slabs and adobe and then layered masonry. It was some time around 1100 AD that they Pueblo Indians began to abandon the mesa top and build their home in the many alcoves along the canyon walls. One of they theories on why the Pueblo Indians left the Mesa area was because some time around 1276 AD drought started and lasted 23 years and many of the natural springs dried up and forced the Pueblo Indians to move to new area where water was more abundant.

After our little history lesson the Ranger guided us down about fifty steps onto the level of the Cliff Palace House. We were told that this is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. We got to walk along the edge of they area and we told the stories of the ceremonial Kiva pits. The dictionary defines a Kiva Pit as "An underground or partly underground chamber in a Pueblo village, used by the men especially for ceremonies or councils." It is said that "The kivas at Mesa Verde were underground chambers that may be compared to churches of later times. Based upon modern Pueblo practice, Ancestral Puebloans may have used these rooms to conduct healing rites or to pray for rain, luck in hunting, or good crops." Every "home" in Cliff Palace had a Kiva. Each Kiva had a small round hole inside, the Ancestral Pueblos believe that this is where they came from...it is through this hole that their spirits came to life. The cliff dwellings were amazing. The stone work, all done without modern tools, has withstood time and weather. There have been a few attempts by the Park Service to fix things that were falling but each time their work (with modern tools and technology) failed to hold like that of the Pueblo people. After spending about a half hour looking around the site we made our way out via a very small path between the rocks and a fifteen foot ladder! **It is important to note that all of these structures had roofs at one point and therefore would have been interconnected.**

From Cliff Palace we made our way to Balcony House for our second tour. This is said to be the most adventurous dwelling in the park. We started with another short history lesson on top of the Mesa before heading down a long path to our first stop. Here we were able to see one of the two springs located at Balcony House. These were of course the water supply for the Ancestral Pueblo people who lived here. Just after the spring was the VERY TALL 32-foot ladder that would take us to the Lower Plaza which had three rooms. These rooms were likely used for food storage. From here we walked through a narrow passageway to the North Plaza. This area consisted of eleven rooms as well as a large open area surrounded by a retaining wall (this is original to the Balcony House). It is thought that this area may have been used as a dance floor, an area for young children, or a gathering area for ceremonies. The rooms were good size and had balconies' on them (hence the name) these balconies served many purposes including drying things, watching children from above, and viewing the magnificent canyon. From here we went through another narrow passage with neatly cut steps which led us to a large room with two Kiva Pits. The North Plaza and Kiva Plaza were originally connected by a door that was eventually covered by the Pueblo people before their departure. **It is important to note that all of these structures had roofs at one point and therefore would have been interconnected.** Once we finished examining Kiva Plaza we made our way to a VERY small tunnel. It was only eighteen inches high and therefore we had to crawl through, this led to a taller area where we could stand momentarily before having to duck-walk through another tunnel. This led us to a series of steps and two fifteen foot ladders finally bringing us back to the Mesa top. It is important to know that we took the "easy" way in and out of the dwelling. The Ancestral Pueblo people used what are called hand and toe hold trails. In other words they climbed the side of the cliffs using small holes for the hands and toes!!!

After finishing the tour we made our way back to the top and took a ride on the 6-mile Mesa Top Loop. This had a number of easily accessible exhibits and overlooks. Here we saw Pit Houses, more Cliff Dwellings, and Sun Temple which is an establishment that was never completed and never had any inhabitants. It is believed that this was being built to accommodate the increasing number of Pueblo people moving to Mesa Verde in ceremonial activities. We made a quick stop in the museum where we were able to see many of the artifacts discovered in the cliff dwellings. This includes tools, toys, sandals (if that's what you want to call them), food, and pottery. One of the most interesting artifacts was a large pottery pot that contained CORN. Yes corn from sometime around the year 1260. It was CRAZY!!

Once we had seen the museum we headed out of Mesa Verde and made our way to Walmart where we stocked up on supplies. We were headed to Moab the following morning for what potentially could be the our last camping spot and needed to get the necessities. After that it was dinner and a soak in the hot tub before heading to bed!