Four Corners Part 6: More Mesa
DAY 7
[FYI I'm going to try to use some larger photos for this blog posting. Made some tweaks to the layout.]
It was a very peaceful nights sleep in the Lebanon Schoolhouse. Breakfast in the sunny main room consisted of pumpkin waffles and good cheer. I surveyed a few maps, Mitchell played with the resident dog.
In a vain attempt to check email at least once I asked if I might use their computer. Happy to oblige if I didn't mind dial-up. Now I've used dial up. I remember dial-up. This wasn't dial up. This seemed like a 300 baud modem. I could have packed the car, had another cup of coffee and flossed before my email even loaded in the browser. Forget it. Thanks all the same.
That said the proprietors did have a lovely behind-the-scenes set up for themselves which was so attractive I felt like making them an offer on the spot. Besides they couldn't have been friendlier. Mitchell played with their love bird and a cat.
We said our goodbyes and thanks and headed back up to Mesa Verde. This time our destination was the Cliff Palace located just a mile or two from Balcony meaning the same drive all the way up. Still curvy, still beautiful.
We arrived early and asked the ranger giving the tour if he could squeeze us in the earlier tour. He was accommodating but I'm pretty sure we were participants 61, 62, 63 and 64. This was a busy tour. We chatted with the ranger. Turns out he's from Binghamton NY and a pretty young guy. Turns out he was not much older than a teenager and a bit of a central NY metal head. Nice all the same. He gave the group a nice overview of the ruin. What I didn't expect was the sheer size of the place.
Same sort of hike down...
then a ladder up...
then a walk around a rocky precipice until you see this.
Yes that's the earlier tour down there. This ruin is huge. But so is the surrounding valley.
Here's a pan to the right. Cliff Palace is still in view on the left.
We continued down a little further and stopped at a nearby overhang, getting the full skinny on this slice of heaven out of the past from Ranger Boy. Then we headed in.
As my mom has been known to utter, Gloriosky!
We trotted along. This is the view back.
We had been sitting under that overhang on the far left sunny section when we got the low down from Ranger Raccoon. Now I confess I heard little of Ranger Rick's expostulation. I was in high gear snapper mode. He could have said this was his parents weekend place and I would have just been nodding my head mumbling platitudes as I exercised my index finger.
Further along still looking back. Note the two kivas in the foreground.
Now let me tell you a little story about getting that last shot above.
So our large group obediently followed Ranger Danger down along the ruin and left a very large unoccupied path behind us with no people in view, no next tour right behind us. Perfect to capture a long shot. To show the splendid isolation. The tomblike quality. The emptiness.
Except it wasn't completely vacant. There was one guy. This dumpy looking, scraggly bearded fellow is way behind us. Making rough sketches of the buildings. Now I really don't want this fellow in my shot. There's another snapper next to me. We're both waiting for dorcus porcus to move. I take a few shots with him in the frame in case I lose the chance to get any shots of the view.
Here's one. The shot is fine but you can't miss Slim there in the middle of the frame.
He ambles along slowly. I see he's making these dramatic flairs with his sketching hand. Oh great. An 'artiste'.
He gets a little closer. The other tour is approaching the edge of the ruin. He's mumbling to himself, waving his hand on each stroke.
The other snapper and I trade knowing, and frustrated, glances. He sees the same nearly lost opportunity and has taken to standing next to me waiting for the little dump truck to move. We both take shots of other sections all the while regularly eyeballing Van Gogh behind us. Here's one.
There's an entry door at the base of this tower that you are allowed to wedge your head and shoulders in to look straight up inside the tower. Here's that view.
This is a four story tower. Each series of wooden poles (including the large ones on the far left) are original and served as the supports for woven branches and clay floors that have since disintegrated. You can see a little window box, flooded with sunlight, on the wall. This is hitting just below what would have been the ceiling of the second floor. Those same wooden poles above the window would have served as the base for the third floor. That area of the third floor is largely intact with its original clay plaster walls which are painted red on the lower sections.
Just above the painted section of the red walls are two red paintings made by the original residents. There's a third painting on the opposite back wall. You can see wooden poles even above this third floor to the fourth floor where more sunlight is pouring in from above. It's amazing that all this light comes in like this but there is no direct sunlight coming into the cave at this time of day when this shot was taken.
I pull my head out and regain my bearings of place and time. Here's a view standing in front of the tower looking out of the cave, Ranger Rick and another visitor in view.
If you zoom in you'll see that the cliff edge up on the far right is dotted with dozens of tourists looking down at us. This overlook is actually a long drive away as there's no crossing the canyon anywhere nearby.
Then I decide to check on Dingus. He's still over there gesticulating wildly. I edge over nearer to him to see if I can shoot around him. No luck. What's truly galling is that the guy knows we're standing there and have been waiting patiently to try to get a shot. He's trying to capture an image but so are we. He looks up at us a couple times but turns his head back down scratching away on his pad like some solitary conductor at a prehistoric opera house.
From my new angle I can I catch a view of his sketch pad. This guy is no serious artist. His drawings look like they were made by a four year old with too much chocolate milk in him.
That's it! I decide to walk over.
"Sir, would you mind just stepping up over hear for a moment. That gentleman and I would like to take a shot of the ruin."
Though he clearly saw me coming he acts completely flustered and indignant.
"What!? Move!? Uhhh... Well!! Uhhh..."
"Just for a minute. We just want a long shot along the walkway."
[very testily] "Well I suppose..."
"Thanks." [And give thanks that I didn't act on my impulse to shove that pencil up your...]
Snapper number 2 steps up near me.
"Thanks for that."
"You get a load of his drawings?"
"Load..." [He chortles. Then we both cackle.]
We grab our snaps. You saw mine already above.
We finish up and move back with the group. We passed the troll and I say "Thanks" and was tempted to add "Rembrandt" but end up censoring myself though the thought of pushing him over the edge of the cliff did cross my mind.
Turns out the tour is now over. Kat and the kids are waiting for me. We scurry up the cliff. The process of exiting this ruin is much less claustrophobic than the method for Balcony. We walk back to the car and grab some water.
Mitchell has nearly completed another Junior Ranger effort so we go off to the nearby visitors center to wrap it up and get him his badge. The ranger is charming and a card to boot. He makes Mitch take the ranger's "oath" which the sharp-eyed fellow pointed out includes "obeying your older sister at all times." Mitch looked like he was going to lunge at the guy but then got the joke and chuckled.
Just a few short steps from this center is another view.
Look just below the edge of the cliff and behold Spruce Tree House, the only cliff dwelling you can visit in Mesa Verde without buying tickets and taking a ranger guided tour. Don't see it? You will.
Zoom.... Off we went. About a 15 minute hike to get there as you do have to go down into the canyon below and then back up the cliff face. While you don't have to buy tickets there are rangers posted every 20 feet for crowd control and to prevent ruin ruining.
Surprisingly I found this to be the most beautiful cliff dwelling. Probably the architecture and the dramatic spaces between sections of the place. The walls are covered with black soot from the centuries of use. Of particular note is the intact kiva complete with floor/roof and a central access hole complete with ladder.
Did I mention that you get to go in the kiva? No? Well you do.
The fact that I got any shot at all inside is a testament to the trusty folks at Nikon. Here's Mitch, Kat and Kelsey on the right in the kiva.
We scrambled up and out, walked and ogled the place a bit more. One more shot. There was something downright ghostly about the place.
We headed back to the visitors center and dashed off a few post cards, dropping them off with the clerk who mans what has to be on the list of top ten post office locations in the world.
It was only 2pm but we wanted to get to to our next destination...
We drove that sweeping drive out again. This time with much more sun and terrific views. Kat drove so I could snap a few and captured one that seemed to be imbued with exactly how I felt at the time.
Still many miles inside the park we stopped at a high overlook. It was a lovely summer day there in Colorado. The long view was marvelous but the burned trees were what still drew my eye.
We exited the park and headed east on 160 towards Durango. We passed Mancos, Golconda and took a right before Durango at Hesperus and headed south on 140 towards the New Mexico border. It was a pleasant a pretty drive. The border crossing was signified only in that our route magically was renamed to 170 and the La Plata highway.
We were following the La Plata river and passed through the town so named. It's rural country but somewhat greener than you might expect. We meandered along and finally saw the river bed widen into a canyon. To our left rose the La Plata cliffs. I knew up there somewhere was our quarry. The land became quickly drier, the road busier and we landed in Farmington.
It was still only 4pm and a beautiful sunny day. We were about to head to Kokopelli's cave.
CLICK HERE for the next part of our Four Corners trip.
[FYI I'm going to try to use some larger photos for this blog posting. Made some tweaks to the layout.]
It was a very peaceful nights sleep in the Lebanon Schoolhouse. Breakfast in the sunny main room consisted of pumpkin waffles and good cheer. I surveyed a few maps, Mitchell played with the resident dog.
In a vain attempt to check email at least once I asked if I might use their computer. Happy to oblige if I didn't mind dial-up. Now I've used dial up. I remember dial-up. This wasn't dial up. This seemed like a 300 baud modem. I could have packed the car, had another cup of coffee and flossed before my email even loaded in the browser. Forget it. Thanks all the same.
That said the proprietors did have a lovely behind-the-scenes set up for themselves which was so attractive I felt like making them an offer on the spot. Besides they couldn't have been friendlier. Mitchell played with their love bird and a cat.
We said our goodbyes and thanks and headed back up to Mesa Verde. This time our destination was the Cliff Palace located just a mile or two from Balcony meaning the same drive all the way up. Still curvy, still beautiful.
We arrived early and asked the ranger giving the tour if he could squeeze us in the earlier tour. He was accommodating but I'm pretty sure we were participants 61, 62, 63 and 64. This was a busy tour. We chatted with the ranger. Turns out he's from Binghamton NY and a pretty young guy. Turns out he was not much older than a teenager and a bit of a central NY metal head. Nice all the same. He gave the group a nice overview of the ruin. What I didn't expect was the sheer size of the place.
Same sort of hike down...
then a ladder up...
then a walk around a rocky precipice until you see this.
Yes that's the earlier tour down there. This ruin is huge. But so is the surrounding valley.
Here's a pan to the right. Cliff Palace is still in view on the left.
We continued down a little further and stopped at a nearby overhang, getting the full skinny on this slice of heaven out of the past from Ranger Boy. Then we headed in.
As my mom has been known to utter, Gloriosky!
We trotted along. This is the view back.
We had been sitting under that overhang on the far left sunny section when we got the low down from Ranger Raccoon. Now I confess I heard little of Ranger Rick's expostulation. I was in high gear snapper mode. He could have said this was his parents weekend place and I would have just been nodding my head mumbling platitudes as I exercised my index finger.
Further along still looking back. Note the two kivas in the foreground.
Now let me tell you a little story about getting that last shot above.
So our large group obediently followed Ranger Danger down along the ruin and left a very large unoccupied path behind us with no people in view, no next tour right behind us. Perfect to capture a long shot. To show the splendid isolation. The tomblike quality. The emptiness.
Except it wasn't completely vacant. There was one guy. This dumpy looking, scraggly bearded fellow is way behind us. Making rough sketches of the buildings. Now I really don't want this fellow in my shot. There's another snapper next to me. We're both waiting for dorcus porcus to move. I take a few shots with him in the frame in case I lose the chance to get any shots of the view.
Here's one. The shot is fine but you can't miss Slim there in the middle of the frame.
He ambles along slowly. I see he's making these dramatic flairs with his sketching hand. Oh great. An 'artiste'.
He gets a little closer. The other tour is approaching the edge of the ruin. He's mumbling to himself, waving his hand on each stroke.
The other snapper and I trade knowing, and frustrated, glances. He sees the same nearly lost opportunity and has taken to standing next to me waiting for the little dump truck to move. We both take shots of other sections all the while regularly eyeballing Van Gogh behind us. Here's one.
There's an entry door at the base of this tower that you are allowed to wedge your head and shoulders in to look straight up inside the tower. Here's that view.
This is a four story tower. Each series of wooden poles (including the large ones on the far left) are original and served as the supports for woven branches and clay floors that have since disintegrated. You can see a little window box, flooded with sunlight, on the wall. This is hitting just below what would have been the ceiling of the second floor. Those same wooden poles above the window would have served as the base for the third floor. That area of the third floor is largely intact with its original clay plaster walls which are painted red on the lower sections.
Just above the painted section of the red walls are two red paintings made by the original residents. There's a third painting on the opposite back wall. You can see wooden poles even above this third floor to the fourth floor where more sunlight is pouring in from above. It's amazing that all this light comes in like this but there is no direct sunlight coming into the cave at this time of day when this shot was taken.
I pull my head out and regain my bearings of place and time. Here's a view standing in front of the tower looking out of the cave, Ranger Rick and another visitor in view.
If you zoom in you'll see that the cliff edge up on the far right is dotted with dozens of tourists looking down at us. This overlook is actually a long drive away as there's no crossing the canyon anywhere nearby.
Then I decide to check on Dingus. He's still over there gesticulating wildly. I edge over nearer to him to see if I can shoot around him. No luck. What's truly galling is that the guy knows we're standing there and have been waiting patiently to try to get a shot. He's trying to capture an image but so are we. He looks up at us a couple times but turns his head back down scratching away on his pad like some solitary conductor at a prehistoric opera house.
From my new angle I can I catch a view of his sketch pad. This guy is no serious artist. His drawings look like they were made by a four year old with too much chocolate milk in him.
That's it! I decide to walk over.
"Sir, would you mind just stepping up over hear for a moment. That gentleman and I would like to take a shot of the ruin."
Though he clearly saw me coming he acts completely flustered and indignant.
"What!? Move!? Uhhh... Well!! Uhhh..."
"Just for a minute. We just want a long shot along the walkway."
[very testily] "Well I suppose..."
"Thanks." [And give thanks that I didn't act on my impulse to shove that pencil up your...]
Snapper number 2 steps up near me.
"Thanks for that."
"You get a load of his drawings?"
"Load..." [He chortles. Then we both cackle.]
We grab our snaps. You saw mine already above.
We finish up and move back with the group. We passed the troll and I say "Thanks" and was tempted to add "Rembrandt" but end up censoring myself though the thought of pushing him over the edge of the cliff did cross my mind.
Turns out the tour is now over. Kat and the kids are waiting for me. We scurry up the cliff. The process of exiting this ruin is much less claustrophobic than the method for Balcony. We walk back to the car and grab some water.
Mitchell has nearly completed another Junior Ranger effort so we go off to the nearby visitors center to wrap it up and get him his badge. The ranger is charming and a card to boot. He makes Mitch take the ranger's "oath" which the sharp-eyed fellow pointed out includes "obeying your older sister at all times." Mitch looked like he was going to lunge at the guy but then got the joke and chuckled.
Just a few short steps from this center is another view.
Look just below the edge of the cliff and behold Spruce Tree House, the only cliff dwelling you can visit in Mesa Verde without buying tickets and taking a ranger guided tour. Don't see it? You will.
Zoom.... Off we went. About a 15 minute hike to get there as you do have to go down into the canyon below and then back up the cliff face. While you don't have to buy tickets there are rangers posted every 20 feet for crowd control and to prevent ruin ruining.
Surprisingly I found this to be the most beautiful cliff dwelling. Probably the architecture and the dramatic spaces between sections of the place. The walls are covered with black soot from the centuries of use. Of particular note is the intact kiva complete with floor/roof and a central access hole complete with ladder.
Did I mention that you get to go in the kiva? No? Well you do.
The fact that I got any shot at all inside is a testament to the trusty folks at Nikon. Here's Mitch, Kat and Kelsey on the right in the kiva.
We scrambled up and out, walked and ogled the place a bit more. One more shot. There was something downright ghostly about the place.
We headed back to the visitors center and dashed off a few post cards, dropping them off with the clerk who mans what has to be on the list of top ten post office locations in the world.
It was only 2pm but we wanted to get to to our next destination...
We drove that sweeping drive out again. This time with much more sun and terrific views. Kat drove so I could snap a few and captured one that seemed to be imbued with exactly how I felt at the time.
Still many miles inside the park we stopped at a high overlook. It was a lovely summer day there in Colorado. The long view was marvelous but the burned trees were what still drew my eye.
We exited the park and headed east on 160 towards Durango. We passed Mancos, Golconda and took a right before Durango at Hesperus and headed south on 140 towards the New Mexico border. It was a pleasant a pretty drive. The border crossing was signified only in that our route magically was renamed to 170 and the La Plata highway.
We were following the La Plata river and passed through the town so named. It's rural country but somewhat greener than you might expect. We meandered along and finally saw the river bed widen into a canyon. To our left rose the La Plata cliffs. I knew up there somewhere was our quarry. The land became quickly drier, the road busier and we landed in Farmington.
It was still only 4pm and a beautiful sunny day. We were about to head to Kokopelli's cave.
CLICK HERE for the next part of our Four Corners trip.
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