Month: November 2016

If there was one thing I wasn’t ready for in my visit to Mesa Verde, it was the sheer number of sites. Somehow I had envisioned that there would be one major site, not dozens of them spread out over miles. In looking back over many hundreds of pictures far too often I was unable to identify what site was pictured. When I go back the next time, I’ll be sure to enable the gps on my camera, even if it means carrying two or three extra batteries with me.

I wasn’t just the sheer number of sites that made it confusing. You could often view a site from several different spots. I used two different cameras with apparently rather different color renditions because the sites I could identify as being the same site often looked different because of the color differences. Of course, I also learned that the time of day and the angle of the sun made sites look dramatically different. It was easy to see why they had guided evening tours for photographers.

Luckily, there are lots of excellent sites online for anyone interested in an in-depth look at Mesa Verde. All I’m going to do in this final post is post four final pictures of different sites. This first one shows the rugged setting of a village

while the second one offers a close-up of the same village.

The next shot taken of a different village at a different time of day is dramatically different,

but no more so than the last shot.

Luckily, for me, at least, all the shots capture some of the awe I felt touring these sites and learning how the Pueblo Ancestors lived.

Although I have no desire to live in an area like Mesa Verde, I do appreciate its stark beauty, perhaps because it is so different from the Pacific Northwest where I live. In some ways it reminds me of Ft. Irwin California where I was stationed for a year and half. Coming from the Puget Sound and Washington’s ever-green forests, it took me awhile to appreciate Ft. Irwin’s beauty but despite far too much sun for my taste, I gradually began to see its subtle beauty.

Although the Ancestral Pueblo sites were Mesa Verde’s major draw for me, my camera kept trying to capture the beauty that surrounded these ancient sites. For instance, it’s easy to find unmarked Pueblo sites throughout the park if you look carefully enough, like this one:

While searching for my pueblo sites, though, I found myself trying to capture the beauty of these huge, uniquely shaped rocks.

Although you can’t see it unless you enlarge the photo, there’s a village on the left end of this mesa.

However, my camera insisted that the mesa itself was more interesting than yet another Pueblo site.

You tend to forget how high you really are in Mesa Verde until you drive near the edge and look over the edge

and remember that you’re standing on top of the world.

I was also fascinated with the shape of the Colorado pinyon pine

whose elegant lines seem to transcend even death.

When we first arrived at the Mesa Verde museum and I saw a trail leading to petroglyphs, my first instinct was to immediately head out, but the “strenuous” label on the trail and the near 90º temperature gave me second thoughts. After learning that there was a camp site available nearby, we decided we would hike the trail the next morning when it would be cooler.

We were up early the next morning and the first on the trail. It was cool enough that we started with coats and gloves, though the trail was strenuous enough we soon shed them. We quickly descended into a canyon and started climbing the other side, looking back across the canyon to our starting point.

In retrospect, I wish I had gotten some shots of the stairs cut into the rocks, but I was occupied with climbing up and down them without falling or just trying to catch my breath.

I did get some shots of the narrow path between the rocks, another notable part of the hike.

The first time I saw one of these passages I looked for a way around, thinking there was no way I could fit through it. Turned out squeezing through it was much safer than going around on the edge.

I couldn’t resist taking shots of the cliffs and trees

and the canyon we were following.

Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed by the petroglyphs that had inspired the hike, especially since I was expecting more of them. (You definitely need to open the picture in a new tab to see a bigger version of this shot.)

Here’s a closeup of a section of the mural.

As I looked at the rocky cliffs near the petroglyphs, I wondered if the artist(s) were inspired by the amazing shapes and textures of the walls that served as their canvas.

Perhaps it’s appropriate I was about to show some of the ruins we saw at Mesa Verde on the day some internet friends are calling the end of America as we know it. I don’t really hold that dire of view, though I’ve been guilty too often in the recent past of worrying that the Apocalyptic movies that are in vogue might be an accurate portrayal of what awaits America if we don’t change our ways.

I thought park officials did a superb job of showing how building methods were developed over time, going from buildings with rock foundations and thatched roofs to “apartment” houses. However, Mesa Verde also serves as a warning that “progress” is no guarantee of long-term success. Only hubris would make us think our civilization isn’t as vulnerable to destructive forces as every civilization that has preceded us.

There are so many sites it’s difficult to remember all their names, much less the exact dates of each site, but it’s easy to tell the relatively early sites

from the later ones with more advanced brickwork.

Just as its easy to see the difference between modest pueblos

and the Cliff Palace.

Only one of the larger sites was open to tour the day we were there, but the two days we were there were hectic, almost too hectic.