Mesa Verde, CO to Monument Valley, UT

Hi all, Dianne here.  On our last day at Mesa Verde we took the Spruce Canyon trail, as suggested to us by a helpful ranger.  We were not disappointed!  I won't give a play-by-play as I did with the Petroglyph Trail, but here are just a couple highlights:

From the trail head we hiked on switchbacks down, down, into the canyon.


We saw some unusual rock formations...

A layer of Coal

We have seen this white flower growing wild along the roadways, and passed one on the trail.  I don't know what it is, but the blooms are very large (about 3") and the plant grows low to the ground.

Well, what switchbacks down must switchback up, so the second half of the trail was up, up, up.  Once again, altitude is not my friend, and I was huffing and puffing all the way up.  


Once we reached the top of the mesa, the trail ended at a picnic area, perfect for a lunch stop. 

 As we made our way back to the ranger station to sign back in, we saw a group of deer.  They were just starting to molt their winter coats.  We saw hoof prints at times along the trail, even though it was not a horse trail.  As we drove out of the area, we passed some horses roaming free.  I wonder if they left the prints?

This trail was also listed as a 2 - 3 hour hike, but for us it seemed much easier (except for the long slog uphill in high altitude) and we made it in 1 3/4 hours.  If you'd like to see the slide show of the entire hike, here's a link.  This link has fewer photos than the one two days ago, so it's fairly short.  


Spruce Canyon Hike


On Tuesday we packed up and headed out for our next stop, Monument Valley, Utah.  

  As soon as we got set up, we took Bandido and Tequila on a short hike near the campground.  


I love red rock country, so here are a few more shots.  I think it's impossible to take a bad photo here!

Tomorrow we plan to take the dogs on another hike, then Roger and I have signed up for a sunset guided tour of Monument Valley.  Each night here at Goulding's, over in the hotel area, they show a John Wayne western filmed here.  We'll probably check that out one evening while we're here.  

The pet photo of the day is my "pet" black-chinned hummingbird that visited my feeder each day while we were at Mesa Verde.  The second pet photo of the day shows Charlie, as he waits for the hummingbird's next visit.  Charlie spent four days stalking this bird, twitching his tail and making chattery cat sounds.  

Petroglyph Trail - Mesa Verde, CO

Roger posing like the figure above his left ear

Hi all, Dianne here.  Our third day at Mesa Verde was spent hiking the Petroglyph Trail, a 3-mile, round-trip loop trail that leads to a wall of petroglyphs.   I have to say, this was both the best and most challenging trail I've ever hiked!  Lots of water and sturdy hiking boots are a must.  It's high altitude (7,000 feet), very dry air, and lots of rock scrambling.  The weather was perfect, though; low 70s with bright sunshine.

We logged in at the ranger's station before departing for the hike, which was described as taking two to three hours for the 3-mile loop.  When we finally logged back in after completing our trek, it had taken us every bit of 3 hours, although we went slowly (for us), took our time and stopped at the many markers for Roger to read the descriptions from the trail guide.  

Ancient soot still visible above ruins

On the way to the trail head, we took the short hike down to view the Spruce House ruins. They were much like the ruins we saw on the Cliff Palace tour, so I'll just show a couple of photos with captions of the more interesting things I noticed:

Roger climbing down into a kiva

Roger, the intrepid one, took a ladder down into a below-ground kiva.  

Dianne illustrating height of tower

Initials of John Wetherill, 1800s explorer of the area

Manos and metates used for grinding corn

  After leaving the ruins, we made our way to the                trail head to begin our adventure down 

     the Petroglyph Trail. 

            

   This early squeeze-through was just a taste of 
    things to come.                        

   Check out the stone steps.       
   There were lots of

  similar stretches of stone         
   stairways, both up and down

  along the trail.  This one was          
  relatively easy, for there 
   were sides to hold onto.


   Striking colors...

    Here are a few more shots from the 
    hike that caught my eye, some with captions:

First rocks to scramble up; my knees took a beating on this trail because I was wearing shorts.

    We passed a perfect place to hide:

 

Yes, the sky was this blue!

  One point along the trail was particularly interesting.  I'll quote from the trail guide:

  

"Notice the axe grooves at about eye level on this flat rock.  The Anasazi used stone for tools since they had no metals.  They made axe heads out of hard rocks, sharpening them by rubbing the stones on sandstone.  These axe grooves are the result of such processes."

At one point Roger said, "You go first; I want to take your picture up on the ledge."  So, obedient wife that I am (ha!), I scrambled up on the ledge, only to discover that it led to a dead-end at a steep drop-off.

Now what??  Turns out, we missed a turn and so I scooted back off the ledge and we forged on to find...

More stone steps...

This set of steps was scary (for me, at least), with nothing to grab for balance:

After a quick stop for a sandwich...

We finally reached the petroglyphs:

Here's another segment:

Earlier on the trail, we passed a couple heading back the way they came.  The wife warned us that there were some big rocks to scramble right after the petroglyphs.   She wasn't kidding!   This was the scariest part of the trail for me.  The foot holds were far higher than my legs could manage.  With moral support and Roger literally watching my back(side), I finally found a hand hold and hoisted myself up.  Once we passed that hurdle, we came upon yet more rocks to scramble up: 

We finally made it to the top of the mesa, where the remainder of the trail took us on top of the mesa through pinyon-juniper "pygmy" forest, with occasional spectacular views.  But first, a look back down where we scrambled up:

More interesting sights along the way...

Look closer...

More ledges:

More lovely views:

All that was left to do was cross the rock-topped mesa and make our way back to the museum (flag in distance) to check in at the ranger station.

This is a hike I will never forget!  Although every muscle in my body was sore that evening, we enjoyed it so much that we decided to extend our stay at Mesa Verde and take a second hike on Monday, the Spruce Canyon hike, which one of the rangers suggested was his personal favorite.  

I took so many photos that I made another photobucket album.  Here's a link if you'd like to watch a slide show and experience the entire hike as we did (without the exertion).  It takes a few minutes, but Roger says it's worth it!

Petroglyph Trail Hike slideshow -- All Photos 

The pet photo of the day is my cuddle bug, Tequila, sharing the recliner with me as I added the photos from this hike onto our computer:

Move Over Indiana Jones - Mesa Verde

Roger here.....  OK, there were no nazis.  I did not find the Ark of the Covenant.  I did not see any booby traps.  No one's face melted off (thankfully, I applied sunscreen).  HOWEVER,  there were amazingly preserved ancient structures.  There were tunnels to crawl through.  There were temples where religious rites were performed by the ancestors of the Pueblo people.  There were narrow crevasses to squeeze through.  There were narrow ledges to tiptoe around.  There were hand-carved steps in the rocks.  AND, there were lots of tall ladders that towered straight up over at the edge of the abyss.  (Incidentally, there was also fascinating information about an ancient culture, important for a retired educator.)  This was a perfect day for me.

Dianne opted not to join me on this adventure due to her fear of ladders.  A good choice on her part.


























Before reading on, let's get in the right frame of mind.  Imagine the music from the Indiana Jones movies....  da da da daaaa,   da da daaaa,   da da da daa   da da da da DAAAA!

Ok,  we are on our way to the ranger-led tour of the Balcony House at Mesa Verde National Park. After meeting park ranger, Bill, at the appointed rendevous, our intrepid group (including people much older than me and very young children) followed our leader down, down, down into the canyon.  After going down, we went up.  Up, up, up, the 32 foot ladder to the next level.  Look at the view behind us as we reached the top.  Quite a drop!

A couple more hurdles before entering the ancient village.  The narrow squeeze through the crevasse between two gigantic rocks.

Then, another ladder climb into the floor of the village.


















And then the first view of the mystical place.

The small village that you see above was built by a culture that was once known as the Anasazi.  We now know that those people were the ancestors of the Pueblo people.  For unknown reasons, they abandoned their cliff dwellings in the 1500's and moved back to the top of the mesas from where they had come --- most of them to the larger cultural centers.  

If you look closely at the previous large photo, just to the right of the ladder, you can see these carved footstep that led to the dark area at the back of the buildings.

The cave behind the buildings hides a spring.  This is not a great picture of the spring, but it is amazing that the ancient Pueblo people were able to create a water system on the land above the canyon that diverted spring runoff so that it would seep into the sedimentary rock and ultimately bubble into the Balcony House spring.  Amazing.

After walking through the cave, another part of the village emerged.  The ceremonial kiva with its fascinating cold-air duct to permit air flow.  

Just above the kiva, Ranger Bill explains how corn was the main source of food for our ancient friends --- 70 percent of their diet.














OK, enough of this educational stuff.... time to escape.  Start the Indiana Jones music.

One last look over the edge of the balcony.

Our first obstacle was to squeeze through another narrow slit in the rocks.  But wait, the ancient ones built a wall over the upper portions of the exit, forcing us to crawl for 12 feet on our hands and knees.

Oh no.... another series of ladders.

Our final obstacle... ancient hand-hewn footholds carved into the rock --- an Anasazi ladder.  Thank you Ranger Bill for the chains.
























Adventure completed, more Mesa Verde exploring to come.  Time for Dianne to add the pet photo of the day.  


Dianne here -- After the wild video of Bandido and Tequila playing hard a couple of posts back, I thought I'd show you how they look most of the time:

Cuddly Little Angel

Sleepy-Head

For those of you who know them and have seen them in action, I know it's hard to believe!!