The Green Table

We're back!  Finally, decent, reliable internet service!

Mesa Verde (or Green Table) provided us ample opportunity to explore and view remains of 700 years of Ancestral Puebloan culture.

Cliff Palace from overlook

Mary Jane (my sister) and her husband, Chris joined us there for three days of adventure. We were able to view antiquities and toured sites - from the hunter-gatherer basket maker culture, to the pit dwellers, to the pueblo buildings on mesa tops (where they began using pottery instead of baskets) and finally to the cliff dwellings (after which they migrated out of the area to a location that most likely offered more reliable food, water and shelter - e.g. locations nearer to the Rio Grande). Mesa Verde occupation is typically cited as being from 500 to 1250 AD - parallel to the time frame for Chaco and Bandelier.

T-shaped doorways - for large loads or a more spiritual meaning?

The family adventurers - a chilly day!

Long House - wrapped tightly into the cove under the overhang

Far View mesa top puebloes constructed before the cliff dwellings

We were able to tour a number of sites by ourselves (on self-guided hikes - e.g. the Spruce Tree and Far View sites) and then signed up for three ranger-led hikes to cliff dwellings: namely the Cliff Palace, Balcony House, and Long House dwellings.  They were a great value at $4 each and even added chills and thrills for the acrophically challenged. The 60 foot climb up the cliff face on a wet rainy wooden ladder and the climb out straight up a rock face from Balcony House (grabbing desperately onto the chains provided for hand-holds) maxed out our "adrenalin rush" tolerance for the day. Most of the kids on the tour did great!  Oh to be fearless and young again!

Ranger "Rick"

Access to the cliff house could easily be cut off for defense

"Stay focused!"

They really let visitors climb on these?

Rock chinking - extra small rocks added to the mud for stability.

Blackened roof from the fires.

MJ and Chris climbing up the rock face - don't look down!

 The museum at Mesa Verde was rich in artifacts actually dug there at the sites and we could see examples of sandals (made from yucca fiber, corn husks and turkey feathers), traps (made from hair and yucca), baskets, pottery, and bird bone and stone amulet jewelry. Fascinating how so little was used for so much! Could our family make do with so little?  I wonder how we would be able to survive using simply mud and trees (for houses), juniper berries, rabbit, yucca plants, corn and squash (for food), turkeys and yucca fiber (for clothing), and stone and wood for tools. It's incredible to contrast our complex over-indulged lives with their meager subsistence on the land.

Manos and matates - no Cuisinarts available then!

Yucca bloom - Yum - lunch!

The museum and ranger HQ built during the 1930's by the CCC

They were a matralineal society that only lived to their mid-30's. They were clearly athletic, and little is known of their spiritual and cultural lives. They were very resourceful and adjusted to a difficult and increasingly challenging drought-impacted environment - yet they survived and their population increased in that environment - for approximately 700 years!  That impressed us!

Water seeps at the back of these sites provided a reliable water source.

We camped in Morefield Campgroun, down in the valley admidst the scrub oak (as you enter the park) and there we saw tons of deer, cotton-tail rabbits and chipmunks. During the week before Memorial day, the park was empty - until the weekend hit - when it became absolutely packed! An instant change.  The last day of school for many of the local kids was that weekend - so we knew that from now on, we would need to adjust our travels accordingly.

Many mesa tops in the park have been ravaged by a number of fires over the past 15 or so years - the most recent fire being in 2003.  Because of the extreme heat generated during these fires, the trees and plants will need possibly up to 30 years to recover and the mesa tops remain bare reflecting the sensitivity of this fragile drought-impacted environment. The antiquities that remained buried and hidden fared the best during this onslaught.