Tuesday, September 9

Cortez, Co.


A change in plans, after realizing there is so much to see and do in the Four Corners region we have decided to cancel our couple days in Carlsbad and stay a full week in Cortez. The KOA here in Cortez is very nice, we have a wonderful site with a beautiful view.


Today we journeyed to Mesa Verde National Park. I had been here a couple times as a child when my family would visit the park driving up from Farmington, NM. where we lived for several years. After the steep drive up to the top of the plateau we toured the visitor center and purchased tickets for two ranger guided tours. Ranger guided tours are the only way you can visit several of the cliff dwellings which is important in preserving these World Heritage Treasure. Our first tour was of "Cliff Palace" and then we became mountain goats and toured "Balcony House". Both tours were impressive, we thoroughly enjoyed the tours and our ranger guides and survived the somewhat strenuous climb, crawl, hike tour into "Balcony House". After the tours we visited the museum and then enjoyed dinner at the Spruce Tree Terrace. We both had "Navajo Tacos", very good (Mark, not as good as the Indian Tacos at Custer Battlefield). We returned to Cortez and enjoyed a beautiful sunset from our RV Park while we went for an evening walk.


Tomorrow we are either going back to Mesa Verde or down to Shiprock, NM to visit trading posts, depending on the weather. Cliff Palace cliff dwelling. The crown jewel of Mesa Verde National Park, an architectural masterpiece and is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. This photo was taking from the beginning of the trail head.As we were approaching the "Cliff Palace". You walk down narrow trail, very narrow in places to eventually arrive at the site. It's a comfortable walk and very scenic trail into "Soda Canyon".We're at the base of the dwelling. The Alcove (cavern) the "Cliff Palace" was built in is 89 feet deep and 59 feet high. The dwelling is 288 feet long consisting of 150 rooms and 23 kivas. Construction was non stop and is estimated to have occurred from 1190 AD through 1280 AD. It's estimated that 110 to 130 people lived here. Rooms, windows and doors were very small but so were the Puebloans. Average male was 5'1" and female 4'8".

Kivas, there are several theories regarding the purpose of Kivas. In general they were used for some sort of social gathering, ceremonial, administrative, family...... The top was covered with juniper poles for support, then matting made from local vegetation with sand mixed mortar. The top was shaped like a cone with a square hole in the middle, where a ladder went down through at an angle directly above the fire pit. The design of the kivas are another engineering feat that amazes me. Look at the fire pit, the small brick wall in front of the pit is a deflector for fresh air that was vented through the large rectangular opening that was vented from outside. The breeze would swirl around the deflector feeding the fire while forcing the smoke up through the square opening on top of the kiva.

Notice the small rooms in the alcove above the main structure. These were used for storage, food or whatever.Soda Canyon, location of several cliff dwellings including "Cliff Palace", "Balcony House" , "Hemenway House" and "Spruce Tree House". Ranger told us the name Soda came from "well the canyon is soda (sort of) wide and soda (sort of) deep". Actually came from the large amounts of alkali in the rocks, white stains along the cliffs. Thirty two foot ladder we had to climb to get into the "Balcony House" dwelling. Not a place to be if you're afraid of heights.I'm already at the dwelling and took this shot of others in our group coming up the ladder The "Balcony House" , the alcove is 39 feet deep and 20 feet tall. The entire complex is 280 feet long, has 38 rooms and 2 deep kivas. It's 600 feet above the canyon floor and over 100 feet below the plateau. Construction was intermittent from 1180 AD and 1270 AD. It's estimated the around 40 people lived at "Balcony House".
Carol peeking inside the door of a room at "Balcony House". Notice the little balcony above Carol's head, those are the original support poles and also the basis for the name of this cliff dwelling.

This cool damp alcove behind the dwelling rooms served many purposes but specifically it sheltered a reliable spring. which all the alcoves had, one of the reasons the cliff dwellings were built in these locations.

Carol crawling through the tunnel, this was our way out, crawling through a 12 foot long tunnel which was the only access to the dwelling by the Ancestral Puebloans. I had to crawl out on my side, my shoulders were too wide.

Yes, you may see this photo again on the back cover of our fall travel book........
This was the 70' vertical climb after we made out of the tunnel. Below the little shelf at the base is 600 ' feet to the canyon floor When I turned around to get this shot I felt a little dizzy looking down through the camera lens.