Humans & Nature

This post focuses on Mesa Verde (humans) and the Grand Canyon (nature), and more!

As kids, our parents had taken us to both on our many summer vacations around the western United States. However, I’d recommend that all kids – now old folks like me – go back and view both with new/old eyes. It is the rare child who understands the vastness of time and space represented in both these national treasures.

I did not remember that Mesa Verde had so many ancient dwellings. “Cliff Palace” is the poster child, and rightly so, but it is just one of many structures under multiple massive rock overhangs in the huge neighborhood of Mesa Verde. While the interpretive signage is excellent, it takes a leap of the imagination to consider life way back then. Humanity finding its place in the world…

And I did not, as a kid, come close to fathoming the immensity of the Grand Canyon. Its breathtaking enormity and raw beauty also require a leap of the imagination. To see the art of time painstakingly painted with water on the canvas of earth is to grok, incompletely, the millions of years it took to create. It may be the single most spectacular sight in the USA – and there are many…?

So…

After leaving Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, I drove to Cortez Colorado to spend the night. Mesa Verde National Park is almost adjacent, so the next morning I drove in. This first batch include the 360 degree view from Park Point driving in, and my first stop at the Cliff Palace, the largest of the several ancient dwelling sites in Mesa Verde. Unfortunately, the park ranger tours for a more close up experience had not started yet for the season…

This next batch shows some of the other dwelling sites, which would have required a quite skilled climbing culture in the canyons. It also shows some of the pit houses that existed even before the cliff dwellings were built…

More cliff dwellings and pit houses, and views of the Cliff Palace from the opposite side of the canyon…

Next up, here’s the Cliff Palace through the telescope, etc. from the other side of the canyon…

Of course, I also went to the museum and saw some of the artifacts they have on display. Likely, this is just a fraction of what might have been available to view had looters not absconded with many larger and more valuable items. As those who have acquired these treasures die, or they are discovered by new generations, one hopes they may be returned to where they came from.

Additionally, a cool painting, a couple hiking down in the canyon, the museum from the outside, a different but also large dwelling complex, and a random rock in the desert on the way to my next destination…

The Chaco Canyon and Bandelier National Monuments sections of the previous post relate to Mesa Verde. There is much speculation about the migrations of peoples between (from/to) these and other sites, and there have been changing interpretations of these peoples (Pueblo is preferred over Anasazi), and what happened to the various groups – and why.

These places are not unlike the Mayan ruins I have visited in Mexico and Guatemala in that the native, indigenous peoples had left these sites before European explorers arrived. Sadly, that was not the case for the Aztec and the Inca, and in all cases the full and true stories of these noble people have been erased by religion, looting, and the destruction of cultural artifacts. Happily, our National Park system has done an outstanding job of preserving and explaining what we have and what we know.

The “human” part of this post continues as I then went to the “Four Corners” where Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet – a completely arbitrary point in middle of a desert now administered by the Navajo Nation. I enjoyed watching my fellow tourists, from hither and yon, take their pix at this very random place. There were a few more geological photographables along the way to my next destination…

Teec Nos Pos, Arizona. Ron & I passed by this same spot in the summer of 1982, 42 years ago!

Amazingly, I have this photo of my 21 year old self meditating on the side of the road…

Eventually, I arrived at the east end of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and took my first look at the Desert View, distinguished by the tower built to take in the glorious vista. I went to the next view point to take in the sunset, then motored on to the Village where I visited the store, noted that the campground was full, and snuck into the employee parking lot where I spent a comfortable night…

The next morning, I relocated to the Visitors Center and walked to perhaps the most prominent vista site for some early glimpses of what proved to be a long day experiencing the Grand Canyon…

More GC from various vistas, the Village from a distance, and ending with some museum stuff…

More vistas, Powell memorial, cloud & shadow, signage, and ravens…

It’s a huge place, there needs to be a huge number of pix just to get a small idea of bigness. Yes? This batch also features the Hermit’s Rest at the end of South Rim trail (and the beginning of a crazy-long hike).

Back in the Village, I went to the El Tovar Hotel, the Verkamp’s Visitor Center, and then headed home…

Once back on the road, this horse was headin’ for the barn. I drove non-stop past Barstow, got in a coupla winks at a roadside rest, then motored on home to La Honda – stopping at the Romero Visitors Center at the San Luis Reservoir Dam to take in the excellent videos they have on display. On the 152? Check it out, an underutilized treasure of water system interpretation. Finally made it home and there was our neighbor Steve. I love driving, but I love being home more…