Mesa Verde: Indian Stuff in the US of A

[Jet Gorgon]

Oh, the top two photos: one is the cover of a tourist book I bought, the other is from the net....
This is a travelogue of a 1996 trip I made to Mesa Verde, a national park in Colorado. I read an article about it in the BKK Post in 95 or early 96 and decided I had to go there. It’s mostly mesas – flat top mountains that drop to deep canyons, and the place where many Anasazi (Navaho for the “ancient ones”) made their homes in cliff dwellings around the 11-13th C. It is thought these people were Pueblo Indians, likely descendents of the Hopi. Basically, they climbed up and down usually sheer rock faces to get to/from their alcove villages. They built houses from stone and mud, carrying the rocks in backpacks hung from their foreheads. When you see the rock faces they traversed to transport their food and other necessities down from the mesa tops, it is quite unbelievable. Many ruins remain, and lots of pictographs and petroglyphs tell stories of their people, clans, hunting, rituals, travel… I found it fascinating.
Regrettably, many of my photos were destroyed in a flood (the first few show that), so I will add some other net visuals to round out the story. If you are all interested, that is. No close-ups of natives as they do not like their pictures taken.
First off, my route. I only had a UK drivers licence so I tried to get a Canadian one. No way without a full test as my old Canuck one had expired about 12 years before. Fine. I called the rental car hotlines and told one guy I wanted to go to Colorado and rent a car but only had a UK licence. “Cannot,” he said. OK, find a nearby state that accepts a UK licence. Utah no. Nevada no. New Mexico YES. OK. Booked a flight (Vancouver-Seattle-Denver- Albuquerque), booked a rentacar and away I went. Here’s the US area and local maps. Colorado and NM are a couple of states east of California.


First overnight at a Day’s Inn I think in Albuquerque. Up the next morn for breakkie at IHOP (International House of Pancakes) and on the road -- Route 66. It’s still in pretty good shape but little traffic. If you’re a tourist, you have to add “drove on Route 66” to the done list. So, I drove on Rte 66 from Alb to Gallup, where I turned north onto Highway 666 through Indian reservation territory to Cortez, CO. (666 is close to 491, but not on this first map, probably because no white people want to drive thru this area...) It's on the 1940 map below.



Colorado map with location of Mesa Verde.

[chinthee]

Tried to green you Jet for that blast from the past. I camped there when I was about 10 years old. In those days, they let you just wander up and down the ladders and in all the ruins. Wonderful place.

That whole region is just fantastic, full of rich history, folk lore, ghosts and goblins stories, adobe homes, lots of great things in that region.

[friscofrankie]

Damn Jet! Think Iw as there about 49-50 years ago. Anyone moved in yet? Wonderful & interesting place have idly dreamt of going back on many occasions Hope there's more pics to come!.

[Jet Gorgon]

hehehe Thanks, Gentlemen.
Yes, I have more photos and want to add some other stuff, too. I'm scanning in the pics and have to put that job on hold tonight as the scanner is noisy and I don't want to bother my neighbours.
Yes, I really love that part of the country. I am jealous of you both. To be there before the tourists took hold of some of the sites...but, there are many off the beaten path I heard.


Oh... here's the water-stained snaps of two views going up Route 666. Look at that mesa. It just pops up like a fairytale castle outta the scrubs.

[chinthee]

^ Yup, I was there about 40 years ago, old fart that I am. Just to make it more interesting, I have family from that whole area, including N.M., uncle had a wonderful adobe spread on acreage, and it was indeed haunted, I can verify.

Many people never even bothered to learn English in that region, even today.

[Texpat]

Either your scanner is very noisy or your neighbors are very close. Or both.

Nice 'logue, Jet. I'm from the East, but visited the Grand Canyon and Four Corners with my brother about 15 years ago. The Painted desert is breathtaking at sundown.

[Propagator]

Nice Jet - look forward to the rest of the journey

[buad hai]

Very nice and a blast from the past for me, as well. My Mom, Sister and I did a cross-country drive back in 1965 in a black 1959 Buick that we called The Batmobile. One of our stops was Mesa Verde.

Keep it coming!

[Jet Gorgon]

Spent the night in Cortez. Think I dined at an Italian place as there weren't any pemmican or ground maize diners. Morning, headed off for lunch supplies and water. Then off to the park. Here's the entrance at the north. Then a few hairpin turns to reach the visitor's centre. OMG, tour buses from h*ll. Frenchies! They were all going to the museum so I headed the other way.



I stopped for lunch at a roadside pullout and found a big rock to sit on. This was my view: Wetherill Mesa, named after a family who settled in the area and scouted the ruins and made pals with lots of the Ute natives.



Then I drove on to my first cliff dwelling, Long House.

Archaeologists and anthropologists have long debated why the Anasazi migrated from the canyons and built these impressive, apartment-like complexes high in the cliffs. Some say it was a defensive strategy; others have suggested that those who lived here were members of an elite class. Common sense folk think that the Anasazi moved under the cliffs to keep out of the rain, wind and snow, have safe storage for the corn they grew on the mesa tops, and a room with a view.
-- Paraphrased from http://savvytraveler.publicradio.org...999/19990904/a

[Jet Gorgon]

More shots of Long House.




I'm glad a few stragglers were there so you can see the size comparison. The round pits are kivas, where the Anasazi held rituals and ceremonies -- strictly a guy thing. They were covered over with timber and packed mud, with vents for fire smoke and most had a Sipapu, a hole in the ground between the fire and the north wall that led to the spirits or underworld. I guess after smoking pipefuls of peyote, lots of weird shit came out of this hole.



The ones covered below may also have been pithouses from the earlier Anasazi, who are known as the Basket Makers (we have a clan member on the forum, I believe), c 550-750 AD. Usually these homes were built on the mesa tops. Apparently, the women were a bit careless about the camp fires, so many of these burned down. Must have been hard in those days: weave the basket, feed the baby, grind the maize and beans, and watch the stove all at the same time.
The square top on the right one is the frame. Then they'd add sticks and mud for a "concrete" finish. I think some had side doors, others were accessed by a step ladder through a hole in the roof. Sounds pretty claustrophobic to me.

[Jet Gorgon]

I thought this was peachy keen technology. In the summer, when the sun is high overhead and it's really feking hot, the sun's rays strike only the front walls of the cliff dwellings, leaving the back rooms coolish, and the cool breezes from the valleys sweep up for a little air-con action.



Then in the winter, when the sun is lower in the southern sky, it shines in to heat up the dwellings, while the cold northerly winds go straight over the mesatops. Of course, you need a cliff alcove that faces SSW to enjoy these benefits. I think Cliff Palace, which I'll show later, was the ultimate in deluxe condos and benefited from its directional positioning.

Oops, sorry, I cut out the little sun, but the black arrow shows the direction of the rays. I scarfed both of these illustrations from Mr Wenger's park guide. Thank you Mr Wenger.

[Bexar County Stud]

Stunning bigger-than-life scenery...one of my favorite places, I've been there twice and I hope to make it back there again someday.
When I visited as a kid in the 70's I recall that there was a mummy on display in the museum. It's long gone for PC reasons, bummer.

[fugitive]

hi - thanks for this...i have family out there too and was thrilled by a solo trip to Chaco canyon which was the product of the same (we think?) culture a few years back. I love to consider those communities thriving at roughly the same time as Angkor and Champa etc. Brain expansion, my favorite!

[donmeurett]

Very intelligent people/ I have to read more about Chaco Canyon

[Jet Gorgon]

Thanks for that, Fugitive (I hate you -- only because I am jealous). I went to Chaco on my way back to Abuquerque, but it was about 4pm and the people in the blue shop nearby said the road was really bad and there was nobody to help if I got stuck there overnight (translation: white girl, you're alone in the wrong neighbourhood as it is. Give it up). I thought, "Oh, ya?" drove into the entrance and saw the road. Tried a mile or so and thought I better give it up in my rented Ford granny car. The pile of empty whiskey bottles at the entrance didn't bolster my spirit either.

I will go there one day. It is magical, spiritual and good for the soul. And as you said, the Anasazi did go there for meetups from what I read. Chaco was sacred; it has a design, just like Mesa Verde and other places (like a modern day logo), and the petroglyphs show lines (travel paths) going to different locations marked by specific designs. They went to Chaco for sure.

Please jump in with your recollections and knowledge and questions, Everyone. I studied alot about this area, but that was 10 years ago and I'm using my notes, books and websites to fill in the blanks for readers. Guess I'll have to make another trip.

Oh, ya, it is great to compare what people in different areas of the world were doing at the same time. I'm pretty good at Japan -- that was the Heian going into Kamakura eras (11-13thC); lots of poetry, politics, culture, samurai on the rise.

[El Gibbon]

JG
Great thread, have spent considerable time in the '4 corners' area and this thread brings back a lot of memories.

E. G.

[Jet Gorgon]

^ Thanks EG and All. I was about to give up on this from lack of interest. Mind, there are lots of great new Asia travel threads again. Guess mine is B rated. Should I throw in some pics of naked Navaho chicks?

[hillbilly]

I don't know whether to slap Jet Gordon or hug him!

But these kind of photojournalism threads only encourage me to go back to the states for a few years. The family wants to go. I am trying to stay here in Thailand.

Damn you Jet Gordon!

[Jet Gorgon]

Slap, followed by a hug?

Here is how the anasazi built their kivas and original pithouses (those were on the mesa tops, before they found the alcoves).



Here's the Anasazi's fashions of the day. Summer: cotton thongs for the gals and who knows for the guys. Winter: woven turkey feathers with rabbit. Strappy lace-ups a la Jimmy Choo and Blahnik. Probably some tanned hide secured with yucca plant braided rope. Looks like they didn't have SPF sunscreen back then or else the people depicted here were really ancient.

[Jet Gorgon]

This is where I had to join the madding crowd of French tourists -- Cliff Palace. Only ranger-guided tours. It's a bit of a tough slog, with lots of broken steps down to the "city".
Cliff Palace was the biggest (so they say) cliff dwelling, housing about 150 people. It had the best sun exposure and perhaps one of the easier means of entry/exit, although it has other rock-climbing routes, too.


Despite the erosion, the buildings are pretty impressive. (That's the park ranger in the ranger hat bottom left.)



Here's a view from a condo window. "Honey, put that pipe down and get in here. Supper's ready."



The kiva design was pretty cool. That little rock wall is a wind break for the campfire.



Here's a weathered rockface on the outskirts of the city.


This is an example of the "toe and hand" holds the Anasazi used to climb up and down from the alcoves to the mesatops. "Look, Ma, no ropes or safety equipment." Guess if you fell off, the wife just said "Well, it will be leftovers again tonight," and then threw the trash out after you. (Good garbage disposal that -- just toss it over the edge into the canyon below.)
Oh, I'll try and do some arrows -- kinda difficult to see the indents.


Mesa Verde Park and other websites have more info. Official Website for Mesa Verde National Park