CATCH A GLIMPSE OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK IN COLORADO

Chapin Mesa Top was homeland for the ancient Anasazi cliff dwellers

 Mesa Verde National Park happened to be only thirty-six miles away from Durango our base camp.  JR suggested we make a run one day in the Jeep to enjoy a revisit to this national treasure. As long as we didn’t have to climb the park’s steep cliff dwelling ladders at Balcony  House or Cliff Palace as we did twenty-five years ago I was up for the excursion. 

 Famous for the astonishing cliff dwellings built into its rocky outcroppings by the Anasazi people, Mesa Verde National Park is a spectacular monument to the area's history. 

Takes climbing five ladders on a ranger guided tour to visit this cliff site

 The dwellings, left behind nearly a thousand years ago by the Anasazi when they migrated to what are now New Mexico and Arizona, are painstakingly constructed and preserved, accessible to visitors by guided tour. Along with ancient dams, pueblos and towers, the dwellings provide a view into the rich archaeology of the park. Mesa Verde meaning “ Green Table” is a very unique and incredible place where ancient Anasazi puebloans once lived a top the Chapin Mesa between 700 AD until 1300 A.D cultivating corn, squash, and beans as their agricultural way of life.  
 



Driving into the Mesa Verde park entrance is like entering another world. The initial drive into the park takes us higher and higher, offering breathtaking views.The park is beautiful and verdant with mature pines and foliage.

  Stopping at the Far View Visitor Center provided a map and information about some of the options around the high mesa to explore. There are about 4,000 ruins and 600 dwellings in Mesa Verde NP. 

A yucca plant sandal

 
 The Chapin Museum has display of artifacts uncovered in the area providing clues on the history of the lost culture that lived on the mesa top and as cliff dwellers below. Late 1800s archeological digs proved evidence that the ancient Anasazi were basket makers, potters, and traders. 

 

  It was only a short walk along a paved path from the museum to Spruce Tree House, which is advertised as the best preserved of the pueblo dwellings at Mesa Verde. We hit the trail on a pleasant hike down to the ruin along numerous switchbacks on a 1.5 mile trail.

 The weather threatened rain as thunder roared above. Fortunately only a light drizzle caught us for a short while hiking down to the Spruce Tree House cliff dwellings. Upon arrival a park guide was on hand to answer questions! This site was unbelievable and so amazing we pondered how the ancient Indians could have used the cliff as their dwellings. Seeing how the Pueblo people built their homes right into the rocky cliff leaves you in awe. 

Folks are able to even climb down a ladder and descend into a reconstructed kiva. We bypassed the opportunity having been below into one at prior time.

JR and I on Chapin Mesa did a basic drive-through, touching on most of the parks highlights, which took us about six hours. We saw a variety of plants like yucca, yellow mule ears, indian paint brush, pinon and pine trees. Blue jays, magpies, and lizards made a few teasing appearances. 

Ending with a grand view of Cliff Palace, the crown jewel of the park,  from a far at the Sun Temple outlook across the mesa was cool.  Biding farewell to the sacred land of ancient Anasazi dwellers, we descended twenty miles down off the mesa top into the valley floor below while listening to soft Indian flute CD music in the Jeep. The majestic peaks and cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde continue to linger in our memory forever as one of the great national parks worth visiting and revisiting.

EXPLORING AZTEC RUINS NATIONAL MONUMENT

In New Mexicoplenty of Pueblos which were home to various ancient communities are being preserved and are open for the public today. One can’t help but marvel at the adobe structures characteristic of such ancient architecture. 

This National Monument was named by settlers who thought the ruins were from Aztec people. They were actually the Anasazi ancestral Pueblo people the same as in Mesa Verde N.P. who built and lived on this site sometime between 1100 A.D. and 1300 A.D. What became of them is a mystery. This was the 3rd largest dwelling after 2 dwellings in Chaco Canyon National Culture Park to the south. Earl Morris, a 1930s southwestern archeologist, had his adobe home adjacent to this dig site. The house is now a small visitor center and museum with artifacts from the archeological excavations done by him.

First graders on a field trip visiting the ruins

The ruins themselves are amazing with some 400 rooms! The stones and walls are really an architectural wonder. We explored the underground storage rooms and living quarters

 

In the central plaza JR and I enter the only reconstructed kiva in the Southwest. The largest of the kivas at Aztec Ruins has been reconstructed to show it looked like with the roof intact .

The Great Kiva where ancient ceremonies were held

 Underground the restored kiva really is amazing. The windows that showed the Equinox and Solstice told how much they knew about the changing seasons and time. 
The remarkable thing about this site is that much of the structure is still intact and you can walk though many of the rooms on a self-guided tour. Considering its age, 800 years or so, the site is in a remarkable state of preservation. It was great how we were able to walk through some of the rooms to get the effect of what life inside was like years ago.  


After two hours exploring the ruins, the time had come to bid farewell to New Mexico and  head northbound thirty-one miles with the rig crossing the border into Colorado.

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OVER THE HIGH ROAD INTO TAOS, NEW MEXICO

The High Road north from Santa Fe entered us into what you can only call God's country.   We couldn’t help but be enthralled by the beautiful mountain scenery of the Carson National Forest. It offered magnificent vistas of snow-capped peaks, alpine meadows, and charming traditional Spanish and Pueblo villages. The churches at Nambe Pueblo, Las Trampas, Chimayo and Ranchos de Taos are a photographers dream!

The old adobe San Jose de Garcia Catholic Church at Trampas became a favorite stop along the route. Two little Indian boys struck up an interest in our cameras outside and snapped a picture for us. There is hardly any traffic on the road that  Sunday afternoon as the rig conquered several steep grades at 13,000 ft.

We arrived within 3-1/2 hours in the charming town of Taos, a culturally rich small town set against the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east and a spectacular mesa sliced by the meandering Rio Grande to the west. 

Taos Monte Bello RV Park located on 5 acres of beautiful, open space on the high-desert mesa at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains has been our base camp. It is a very nice little RV park on the northern edge of Taos, but at times does get rather windy. The place isn’t a fancy “resort” but it is the best park in the area within easy reach of all Taos activities and has some great sunsets. 

Taos sunset on the horizon

During three days in Taos we’ve peeked at several Taos historic museums and churches, many of which are National Historic Landmarks, and soaked in a glimpse of how the town’s early settlers lived. Its history is filled with colorful characters who helped make Taos what it is today. From trappers and traders like Kit Carson to wealthy heiresses, remittance men like the first territorial Governor Bent, legendary artists like Georgia O’Keeffe and Ansel Adams and far-sighted entrepreneurs. 

Another Taos sunset 

Lots of creative folk art, jewelry, pottery, baskets, and religious relics are available everywhere for a price.

 

The Taos Plaza with its shaded central courtyard is the living, breathing heart and soul of the old Spanish settlement in the Taos Valley It has become the hub for tourists meandering through old adobe buildings filled with colorful shops,  galleries, and southwestern wares.

The San Francisco de Asis Church, four miles south of Taos in Rancho de Taos, dates from 1772 and is still an integral part of its community.  Artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Ansel Adams have memorialized this famous church because of its unique massive adobe and masonry architecture

Every spring, the people of the community gather to mud a new layer of adobe mud plaster on the walls, preserving their church in the time-worn ways. The work is called “enjarre”, or re-mud.

Taos Pueblo on the northern outskirts of the town of Taos was a highlight for half a day strolling the village. It consists of an amazing multi-story adobe structure built between 1000 and 1450 AD and has been inhabited for over 1,000 years.  Approximately 150 people still live within the Pueblo full time, and the people of the Pueblo continue to maintain the age-old beliefs and cultural traditions of their ancient society. 

San Geronimo Church built in 1850

Several old adobe rooms have become privately owned Indian

shops throughout the village that support the numerous local native artists. Speaking with some of the Native Americans, tasting Indian fry bread, viewing the various Indian crafts, and capturing photos of the pueblo is an experience that shall be long remembered.

Surrounding dwellings on the pueblo often serve as shops

Ladders provided entry to dwellings when doors didn't exist

 

A pueblo horno oven used daily 

Deer hide drum

Taos Pueblo cemetery where the original 1619 San Geronimo church once stood.

Old 1619 Geronimo Church ruins at Taos Pueblo

 

Whether you're into history, culture, outdoor adventures or just in need of some new and unique scenery, New Mexico definitely is the place where pueblos, the art of dance, native traditions and artists thrive as a way of life. These are a few of the many unique aspects of its amazing land. Splendid sunrises, sunsets, and wide open blue skies over the vast open high deserts and valleys all surrounded by mountain ranges provide a peace and solace to the spirit and soul like none other.

A sunrise over Taos from the campsite 

Taos Sunset