America's Wonderlands: The Ancient Foreigners

[Bumblebee]

Anasazi Ruins Ride Report anyone?

[fishmeister]

Ok, don't be teasing us.....documentary and more pics seem to be in order of that magical and majestic area.
 

The origin of the "Star Children".......very interesting Bee..(HOPI BLUE STAR PROPHECY)

[Bumblebee]

After some 4000+ miles of travel I arrived at Mesa Verde National Park in SW Colorado. This is a well known park however it's also one that's easily overlooked or ignored. I mean, how interesting could pueblo ruins actually be? Let me put it this way, three full days in the park was just a quick tour. I've been here before sometime in the previous century and I still forgot how surprisingly interesting this place can be.

The geography here is interesting. It's high terrain surrounded by lower land on three sides. An oasis in the flat lowlands of south western Colorado. It's easy to see why a group of nomadic people trying to survive in a harsh environment decided to call this place home. There is conveniently located water, wildlife, vegetation, trees, shelter and rocks in this 100 square mile area. Everything one actually needs to live is here...if you know how to use the resources.

Some 1400 years ago, Mesa Verde was first occupied by the Anasazi who established a civilization here that lasted for 700 years. There is little known about their daily lives due to a lack of writing and most perishable items didn't survive to the present. It's the structures themselves that is of great interest and tell how these people lived and progressed. It's not something I can really cover here without turning it into an indepth history, geography and archeological lesson.

The best way to get the general feel of this place is to park the motorhome, unload the motorcycle and go for a ride...

1. Entering the park was interesting. It was raining that morning in the valley so the clouds were on the roads to the switchbacks into the park proper.
2. My very first tourist trap campground since Early June. It's now August. I'm not impressed because of the crowd around me however it'll have to do. (I'm serious, for me this is extremely crowded and borderline intolerable)
3. Side note: For those who might be interested in visiting without camping, they have these little lodge/hotel type rooms at Far View Lodge. Interesting however it's not for me. YMMV.

[Bumblebee]

And the ride begins...

This park is actually motorcycle country. It is several miles of twisties going up and down hills. From the main entrance, it goes up switchbacks down into the Mancos Valley. From there it continues through a tunnel. Then the roads get twisty for a few miles as they climb out of the valley to the ridge. From the visitor center the road branches two directions. One continues on the main road along chapin Mesa. the other goes to the west along Wetherill Mesa. Make the turn to the west and the twisties get fun. This isn't as big as say Big Bend however it's not a tiny compact park either. I literally put over 150 miles on the motorcycle here. The two main mesa roads are 8 and 12 miles each plus the entry road that's about 15 miles. The end loop at Chapin Mesa will put another 25-30 miles on the odometer. Just watch your fuel level.

1. Mancos Valley
2. Hiking country!
3. Tunnel!!!! (I stebeled the crap out of this place)
4. From the top of the climb to the mesa overlooking the park

[Bumblebee]

There are three guided tours that are pay tours in the park. They are for the most spectacular cliff dwellings in the park that tourists are allowed to get close to. It's only $3 so don't miss out on at least one of them though I find it offensive that they make you pay for a place that you already paid to get into in the first place - this is afterall, ours already. The rest of the place is self guided and free which is ideal for people truly interested in the history here.

My first stop is a place called Step House to see an old pit house that's in a national parks book I have that was published in 1975. I wanted to see if the pit house at the Step House from the book was still there..and sure enough, it was. It's almost in the same condition too.

1.  Wetherill Mesa twisties begin!
2.  That curvy road is the road along the mesa ridge. The speed limit is low and there are park rangers around who will bust you however it's still a fun relaxing curvy road to have fun on at any speed. There are much more twisties all through the place. The only thing I didn't like about the roads was that they are installing guard rails everywhere.
3. This park has been torched up many times over the years so there are lots of dead trees around. Some of the fires were natural, others were caused by negligent idget people. Each burn area will take at least 200 years to recover. Most of what you see here is dead trees. It's really sad since I love the forest. However as a photographer, dead trees with cumulus clouds above is the definition of pure art! (This is an ok picture that didn't make the cut for my Trees And Skies series)
4. As noted, I was searching for the pit house at the Step House. This is it. This angle is almost exactly the picture in the book. I ran out of lens before I could match the picture exactly.
5. The Step House cliff dwelling from the upper tourist walking path near the top of the ruins. No Bumblebee doesn't get off the designated paths in places like this unless I have an invitation by the park rangers or archeologists...which I manage to get from time to time but not today but that's very ok for that was not in the plans anyway.

[Bumblebee]

The search for ruins continues. I leave the Step House and continue back to the main road to a place called Cedar Tree Tower.

The tower is literally a small tower. Some of these towers are used for ceremonial purposes, others are used as observational sites. Maybe they used the insides as food storage as well, who knows. The view from here actually covers an entire valley so it could be used as a warning lookout for attacks by other tribes in the area.

1. Fun picture just because
2. Cedar Tree Tower. Note the pit in front of the camera, the tower and the small opening on the left of the tower. They are all interconnected. The pit is called a Kiva which is likely a ceremonial chamber that is typically covered over with a flat roof.

[Bumblebee]

So off we go to the guided tour. I only had time for one guided tour so I picked the most interesting one based on it being the one that will cause the most tourists to have fits or cause them to cry. (Tour advice: They typically want to give you a ticket for half an hour from the time you buy the ticket at the main visitor center. The sites themselves are 12 and 15 miles away so get a ticket for an hour later. Parking can be annoying and you're not really in a hurry since you're in a national park anyway)
The winner today: Balcony House. It has multiple wood ladders and stone steps in the cliff face to get into and out of the dwellings. It also has a few small passages you have to go. This is the kind of place I like.

The tour starts at the top of the mesa and proceeds down a trail with modern steps. At the bottom, you go up a ladder into the cliff dwelling itself. The ladder is three telephone poles with rungs about 4 inches in diameter. From there, you go through a tight passage into the larger area. Then into another even larger open area with a Kiva. After that, it's a small longer tunnel that you have to crawl through to get to the ladder and cliff steps to climb up to the top of the mesa again. IMO, if you want fun and can only have time for one place, go to Balcony House. The others might be better (I forgot since I was a kid last time through here) however you won't regret coming here.

1. Steps down to the dwellings.
2. The ladder into the dwellings. It's fairly steep yet boringly safe.
3. The first larger open area. Note the wall. Also note the short 3 step ladder. You go up that, then there are steps cut into the angled rock surface to the right of the ladder. After that, you continue on around to the left which eventually ends up directly behind the camera.
4. Here's where it gets fun. The park ranger guiding the tour already met me the day before at the Step House and we had a good talk about archeology, photography and old pictures. As a result, he knew I was working and allowed me to hang way far back in the group to get the photos I needed. As long as I stayed ahead of the next group, I would be fine even though it's a lot further behind than they normally allow. (For those who noticed, yes there are a few tourists in this picture, you're very observant, now shut up and enjoy the tour like everyone else who missed them.  )
5. After the last small tunnel that you have to crawl through, you climb up a 20ish foot wood ladder again then get on the exposed rock face and continue up the steps. This is what you go up. it's a lot more steep and exposed than what the picture indicates. It's great fun!

[Bumblebee]

So now I'm out of the Balcony House with half a day ahead of me. So what now?
At this end of the park there is a nice little village with a very nice museum, potties, a tourist trap and a little restaurant that has rather good hamburgers.

The really interesting part of the park is the evolution of the building design. It started as little half in-ground huts like the pit house and progresses as extensive cliff dwellings, towers and full above ground two story buildings on the mesa. You can see the design changes as the old buildings were overbuilt with the newer buildings. I could put hundreds of pictures up showing the progression however here is small a sample of what I found. The Mesa Top Loop is the ideal place to see the progression. The excavations are open air as well as under weatherproof shelters as needed.

BTW: Don't bring your cage. Take the motorcycle if at all possible. There are a bazillion little pullouts for ruins that a motorcycle is the ideal transportation to use. Some pulloffs are packed solid with cages however there is always somewhere you can put a motorcycle easily.

1. Square Tower House cliff dwelling
2. An early pit house under a protective archeology shelter. The main living area is at the top of the picture, storage and/or smaller living chamber is at mid picture. The round hole at the bottom right of the picture actually connects into the pit house as a ventilation shaft.
3. This place is interesting. The Anasazi actually built new buildings on top of the ruins of old buildings. Anywhere near the individual ruins, you see this kind of pattern all over the place for acres sometimes.
4. One of the more modern larger Kivas. They're often oriented north/south for the more modern kivas That first step down is about 15 feet. A hole similar to the pit house hose goes down to the hole in the bottom. The vertical stone reduces air flow rate at the square fire pit. Continue that straight line and there is a small hole in the floor called a sipapu. Since all life originates from the Earth, that hole is the symbolic entrance to the underworld.
5. One of the many cliff dwellings in the area. All you have to do is stop and look around for a moment to see 5-6 of these things at almost any point along the valley walls. Some are blatant like this one, others are little and obscure however they are there.

[Bumblebee]

Assorted ruins continued:

Temple of the Sun is not to be missed.

There is an interesting place called Far View Sites. It's multiple ruins all grouped together. There are two right where the only parking is located. You can't miss those. Then there's another slightly to the north that is a little walk and mostly nothing much to see by comparison.
The interesting ruin is the one that everyone misses. (There was a single set of footprints other than my own when I went there and I was all alone for a good hour or so) Walk away from the ruins that everyone looks at and go back toward the parking area loop road. Stay to the left in the loop. Take the left path to the south and follow it until you find the ruins. It's a little out of the way and takes more time to walk there however it's the one place that you don't want to miss.
This location is an extensive dwelling area with kivas, towers, small living areas and stone walls galore. The place is crawling with ghosts and images from the past trying to tell you their story. Just stop and listen and observe. I have enough pictures of the place to do a mosaic. I may try to put that together eventually to bring the place to life.

1. A side passage in the Temple of the Sun.
2-5 The hidden dwelling area. It's complex and extensive.

[Bumblebee]

I hope this little tour through a small section of my backyard motivated you to get out there and truly see the world we live in. It's full of big skies, history, and ghosts.

Peace Out,
Bumblebee

[fishmeister]

So rich and amazing at the same time Bee.
I knew you would pull one out of the hat after that long off season.

Will there be any reference to the Hopi beliefs of earth's reversal of rotation and the genesis of the Star Children?

The area is not only deep visually, it has quite the history too....

[Bumblebee]

Will there be any reference to the Hopi beliefs of earth's reversal of rotation and the genesis of the Star Children?

The area is not only deep visually, it has quite the history too....

The archeology alone there is enough to keep one busy for a couple centuries. That's really all I looked into while there since I didn't have much time. The history of the Mesa Verde area is very broken due to a lack of relics and no written records at the time. So much has been lost. Even so, the basic history would take a month of exploring and reading to cover the basics. The belief systems and culture makes the Marianas trench look like a puddle and I haven't even touched on it.

The historic Hopi lands is in Arizona East of the Grand Canyon near Tuba City. Between there and Mesa Verde is currently the Navajo Nation which is a huge reservation that I traveled across. BTW: Anasazi is the Navajo for The Ancient Foreigners.

I ran across no reference this trip about the Star Children. Feel free to elaborate because I would like to know about it.


On a side note; When I was traveling through the Navajo Nation I stopped to have lunch on the side of the road and talked to one of the natives selling very nice jewlery. The upshot of the conversation was that I now have an open invitation for the next time I pass through the area to go see a very culturally interesting site on sacred lands that is usually off limits to outsiders and even get photographs of at least some of it.

[popo303]

That place is wonderous. I have been there three times and still just cant see it all or get enough. Thanks for the reminder Bee- good report- great pics.

[drdubb]

There is a ride report of this area in Road Runner magazine this month. Your report and pics are better.

[SirSeanSean]

Amazing ride report.

[JB1290]

Great report, Bumblebee. You have a great eye for photography.

[hockeyhawk]

Very nice Bee, thanks for sharing.