Today we went back to Mesa Verde National Park to visit and tour 3 more cliff dwellings. Again we started at the park information center and signed up for our ranger guided tour. We spent the entire day at the the park. After our visits to the dwellings we picked up a couple of souvenirs at the store at park headquarters and headed back to Cortez. On the way out from the last dwelling we visited, "Spruce Tree House" I was stung by a yellowjacket. Can't believe it, I can't remember the last time I was stung by a bee, yellowjacket, wasp or anything. In the last month I've been stung by yellowjackets twice and bit by an ant. Anyway, we were both tired after hiking the trails and climbing ladders to visit the dwellings. Not feeling like cooking dinner we stopped by one of the many restaurants and had a very good buffalo burger. Of course, as tired and hungry we both were I think "road kill" would have tasted good. We made it back to the RV park, took Mitzee for a walk, watched a little TV and I was reading my book when the storm hit, WOW! Did we have some thunder and what a light show. Local Hopi, Zuni and Navajo must have been doing some serious rain dancing and praying for rain because the area got dumped on.
We haven't decided on what we're doing tomorrow, but you can read about when I post it.
"Step House" dwelling is the only ruins that has the remains of two separate civilizations. The "basketmakers" from 450 -750 AD and the classic Puebloans from 1220 -1280 AD.
On the trail to "Long House" dwelling. This was a ranger guided tour that was almost 2 hours but well worth it. This is the second largest dwelling in Mesa Verde, it contains 150 rooms, 21 kivas and an unusually large central plaza. It is estimated that 150 people lived in "Long House".
From left side of the dwelling you can see how large "Long House" was.
You can see the central plaza and large fire pit. At the far end next to the cliff is a large boulder, there's about a 3 foot wide path between the boulder and the base of the alcove. This was the entrance and exit to the dwelling, where are carved out hand and foot holds in the bluff so Puebloans could get to the top of the mesa to care for crops.
One of the 21 kivas, interesting difference about this kiva is it is attached to another kiva and then another from that one. The rectangular opening in the floor is the entrance to a tunnel to another kiva and in that kiva is another escape tunnel to another kiva.Kiva is Hopi Indian word meaning ceremonial room.
Yes, we had more ladders to climb. This ladder takes us up to the back of the alcove and the still functioning spring.
This is Paula our ranger for the tour. She presented the best tour of any ranger we had. She was very knowledgeable, especially on the history of the Anasazi (Ancient Ones) people, cultures and survival in the Four Corners region. Here she is showing and explaining the petroglyphs on the ceilng and wall in the alcove.
A view of the "Long House"dwelling from the right side back in the alcove looking out.
"Spruce Tree House", a peek at the dwelling from the trail. The trail leads down a steep canyon through juniper, pinyon pine, yucca plants, several varieties of cactus, serviceberry shrubs and Gambel oak trees. All were critical to the survival of inhabitants of Mesa Verde. The name "Spruce Tree House" came from, the first white man to enter the dwelling, he climbed down a Douglas Spruce from the top of the mesa.
"Spruce Tree House" is the 3rd largest dwelling in Mesa Verde, containing 114 rooms and 8 kivas. It is estimated that 100 people lived here until around 1275 to 1280 AD when all of the Mesa Verde people, the Anasazi, vanished.
Carol climbing up out of a kiva.
Grinding bins, here the women knelt with their heels against the wall and used the "mano", hand stone to grind corn, nuts or whatever on the large flat stone, "metate"
The Alcove or cave that "Spruce Tree House was built in is 90 feet deep and 216 feet wide.
No comments:
Post a Comment