This is one of the sites we really looked forward to the most and we were not disappointed. We got there very early, an hour before the ranger station opened, as we were so enthusiastic. We wanted to get the tour to go down into the Cliff Dwelling and were lucky to get the first one and even luckier to get Ranger Jim. He wanted to become a ranger since he was five years old and then when he was old enough to succeed he had to work at other places for twenty years before he got the cliff dwellings. He's not leaving and that is a good thing for the tourists as he is well informed and tells the history well.
As usual, click on the first picture for larger pictures in a slide show if you don't want to read my ramblings.
This is the approach to the Mesa Verde where the cliff dwellings are. We have to drive up to the very top on switch back roads and were happy to be doing so early in the morning when we were almost the only ones making the drive.
Above.
The view from about half way up. It was misty and perhaps a bit polluted down below so it's hard to make anything out but it is a long way down there.
We arrive on the top to find the forest burned out. This isn't unusual for the tops of these mesas, the area around the Grand Canyon is the same. Lots of lightening strikes up at the top.
Above.This is The Spruce Tree House which can be viewed right behind the museum and is not accessible by tourists.Below is a close up of the buildings on the right hand side of this picture.
A close up of the right hand side buildings. This is one of the sites where the people actually lived as opposed to the Cliff Dwelling Site that was reserved for ceremonies.
These are the cliffs that they built into and they built on both sides. That's amazing in itself but apparently they visited each other on a daily basis. The average height of the men was 5'2 and weight was 120 pounds. Talk about fit!!
One of the dwellings.
Some of the dwellings were on two levels of rocks.
The circular areas are called Kivas and were used for social or ceremonial sessions.
They used the top of the Mesa to grow their crops and hunt. They used to live on the top as well but as the tribe grew they needed more room for their crop growing.
The indentations are for climbing. They put ladders up to them and then climbed the rest of the way.
Above and below is the Sun Temple. It was built but never used.
The Cliff Palace from afar.
The Cliff Palace. The most photographed site in the area. Our ranger said that they did not live here, that it was used exclusively for ceremony but the pamphlet states otherwise. It was built from rocks brought down from the mesa that were removed from a building they deconstructed. After all that work it was abandoned 80 years later.
After going down you go up a ladder...........
Then around a corner
The left hand corner comes into view.
There it is in all it's glory. This was not reconstructed, only cleaned up from the debris that was lying around.
A small section under the overhang that doesn't look big enough for anyone but most likely used for storage.
The way out.
This kiva shows the fire pit, a ventilation shaft behind the small wall of stones. The small stone in front of the fire pit apparently is their communication to their ancestors. Since their buried them they believed that they had to consult them through a hole in the ground.
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