Here in Southern Colorado and northern New Mexico the mesas and valleys are dotted with ancient dwellings dating from 800 to 1300 years ago.  In Mesa Verde National Park we hiked well maintained trails to view and visit a number of thoroughly excavated and continually tended structures sometimes with a guide always with lots of interpretive signage.  In Canyon of the Ancients National Monument we wove our way back impassable roads (can you say hike the last mile because of a mud bog in the clay roadbed) and marginally marked trails to find structures in their natural state of decay and collapse.  I am not sure which is more meaningful to see.  Both are amazing.

Mesa Verde

The drive on Wetherill Mesa took us to Step House; an early cliff dwelling containing early pit houses. The Badger House Community actually spans several generations of mesa top construction and provides insight into the changing social structure that seems to be reflected in these changing structures.  The archeologists and anthropologists read a lot into the remnants up here.  They have painted a pretty detailed picture of an entire vibrant society based on these objects plus, these days, the oral history of the current Pueblo Peoples (about a dozen Native American tribes of this area).

Longhouse – Mesa Verdes second largest structure

We twist our way through a skeleton forest of fire killed juniper.   Some grass and low brush have begun to return but no one knows if the juniper/pinion pine forest will ever return to this mesa.  It was a “natural” lightening ignited fire but still sad to see.  We reach the crest of the mesa and switchbacks lead to steps and more switchbacks to bring us to the alcove 200 feet below.  Here is Longhouse.  Why the ancient people left the mesa top farming sites to live in the cramped, perilous cliff alcoves is still unclear.  They did so for only a generation or two of the 700+ years they were in this area yet the cliff dwellings are the ones we seem most fascinated by.  They are impressive and relatively well preserved compared to the structures that have been fully exposed on the mesa tops.

We end the visit to this site with a coordinated “aah” into the valley to experience the awesomeness of the terrain as the sound echoed all around us. Then, a moment of silence to consider the lives of those who had been here long before.  You can almost feel them there around you.  No wonder the decedents consider this a sacred place.

Chapin Mesa gave us views of Cliff Palace, the largest most well preserved and grandest of the Mesa Verde sites as well as Spruce Tree House.  Spruce Tree House is closed to the public for probably 3 years as they figure out how to stabilize the cliff it is built within.  Nature is winning; there is repeated rock fall despite work to prevent it.

Along the drive are more examples of evolution of the structures in this area. It is a lot of in and out of the car but well worth the trip around the loop.  Take at least one Ranger Guided tour while you are here.  Even if you are a sign reader like I am, a chance to hear current interpretation and ask questions is well worth the $4.

Canyon of the Ancients

Our day started in the Anasazi Heritage Center; it is the repository of a great number of Ancient Puebloean artifacts recovered in this area and the visitor center for the Canyon of the Ancients National Monument.  They have an amazing basket exhibit some ancient remnants (7000 years old) and some current work of Ute and Navajo peoples.  Beautiful.

Our main goal is to see actual ruins so we pick up a map and get advice from the docent at the desk which includes numerous cautions about the road conditions out in the Monument. We head out.  Lowry Pueblo is pretty easy to get to.  It is excavated and there is some signage.  Painted Hand Pueblo was a bit more challenging, the docent had warned us.  Just around the first bend of the access road we found a huge mudhole completely impassable in the car. Kent backed to a wide spot; we parked and hiked in the last mile of the road then back a mesa edge trail.  At the end we found the more typical ruin, a partial tower, some crumbling walls in alcoves and the namesake painted handprints on one alcove.  It is certainly not as splendid as the structures we have seen other places but it is still filled with the spirit of those early inhabitants.  Maybe even more so than those that have been more disturbed by modern man.  It was worth the walk.