Cliff Palace is probably the best known of North American ruins. This was our third or fourth visit.
Click on any of the images for a larger version.
The image below is from a photograph looking back up at the tour waiting area overlook.
Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The Ancient Pueblo structure is located in Mesa Verde National Park, in the southwest corner of…Colorado, home to the Ancestral Puebloans people. (1)
(1) from Wikipedia
Commentary and images from the road
image and information from September 13, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About
September 13, 2009 Mesa Verde National Park
Visits to the ruin are only by ranger guided tours. The view below is from the tour waiting area overlook.
The next photo was taken from about the same location as the people on the right in the image above:
Tree ring dating indicates that construction and refurbishing of Cliff Palace was continuous from c. AD 1190 through c. 1260, although the major portion of the building was done within a twenty-year time span. Cliff Palace was abandoned by 1300, and while debate remains as to the causes of this, some believe a series of mega-droughts interrupting food production systems is the main cause. (1)
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado — September 12, 2009
We arrived at Mesa Verde early enough to relax for a while before heading further into the park.
(click on any of the following photos to view a larger image.)
View of the sky over Mesa Verde National Park
It’s a mother-in-law warning device! (see previous post on it.) from display at Far View Visitor Center
Spruce Tree House was constructed between AD 1211 and 1278 by the ancestors of the Puebloan peoples of the Southwest. The dwelling contains about 130 rooms and 8 kivas (kee-vahs), or ceremonial chambers, built into a natural cave measuring 216 feet (66 meters) at greatest width and 89 feet (27 meters) at its greatest depth. It is thought to have been home for about 80 people.
Knife’s Edge, location of the old pre-1950s harrowing route into the park.
Evidence of past wild fires can be seen throughout the park, some quite recent.
Spruce Tree House is the third largest cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde. Unlike other cliff dwellings in the parks, Spruce Tree House can be accessed without a ranger guided tour, though rangers will be on duty at the ruin when the trail is open.
Spruce Tree House was opened for visitation following excavation by Dr. Jesse Walter Fewkes of the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Fewkes removed the debris of fallen walls and roofs and stabilized the remaining walls.
It was discovered in 1888 by two local ranchers searching for stray cattle.
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Commentary and images from the road
image and information from September 12, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About
Spruce Tree House information is from National Park Service web page — Spruce Tree House
I’ve completed another photo gallery from our visit to Rocky Mountain National Park. It includes images from Moraine Park, Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, and Dream Lake, and has photos of elk, deer, a couple of chickarees, a chipmunk, birds, wildflowers and more. (For more of my travel images see Haw Creek Galleries.)
Clicking on the any following images will open a larger copy of the photo.
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Commentary and images from the road
image and information from September 12, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About
Ouray, Colorado — September 11, 2009
We decided to get away from the almost daily mountain showers and take a day trip to the less visited northern rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, one of the newest of our national parks.
(click on any of the following photos to view a larger image.)
The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is very deep and narrow.
The fast flowing Gunnison River loses more elevation in 48 miles than the 1500 mile Mississippi River does from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.
For a sense of the scale of this canyon, the arrow in the image above is pointing to the national park visitor center across the canyon on the south rim. The inset image is a blow-up of the building from the original of this image.
Needle Rock from across Crawford Reservoir on the way to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.
Just as on the south rim, there are a number of overlooks, as well as a campground, though the campground on the north side of the park is significantly more primitive.
The sky over the canyon was awesome.
It was a 227 mile day trip, much of it over twisting and turning mountain roads. While the road inside the park is a good paved road, the county Black Canyon road between the state highway and the park is graded and graveled.
After a long day of driving and sightseeing, we stopped for pizza in Montrose.
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Commentary and images from the road
image and information from September 11, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published
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After weeks of mostly wet weather, Halloween was dry — and we took a short road trip and hike.
Our first stop was at the Russellville, Arkansas, Downtown Fall Festival. Unfortunately, my camera’s white balance was set to compensate for inside lighting and I forgot to change it to auto white balance. So the composite images, even after post processing, are somewhat surreal, especially considering the holiday and all.
As always, click on any of the following to view a larger image
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Our next stop was Petit Jean State Park. One of our favorite hikes is to Cedar Falls, the highest water fall in Arkansas — and the most photographed.
We figured that, with the recent wet weather, and rainfall totals way above normal, the falls should be pretty spectacular — and we were right. We’ve been taking this short, but arduous hike, periodically since 1980. We’ve never seen Cedar Creek with this much water in it.
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Road trip commentary and images
November 1, 2009
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Ouray, Colorado — September 10, 2009
We didn’t go very far this day. After walking around town a bit and having a coffee and snack at Artisan Cafe and bakery, we headed up into the mountains on Camp Bird Road. Unfortunately, it was too cool for our picnic along Sneffels Creek to sit for too long without a fire and a light rain started not long after we finished eating.
(click on any of the following photos to view a larger image.)
Originally established by miners chasing silver and gold in the surrounding mountains, Ouray at one time boasted more horses and mules than people. *
The entire present-day economy of Ouray is based on tourism. Ouray bills itself as the “Switzerland of America” because of its setting at the narrow head of a valley, enclosed on three and a half sides by steep mountains.*
Many of the buildings have interesting 19th century decorative enhancements, such as the weather vane above.
Even though still technically summer, the aspens in the high country were already showing signs of color.
We didn’t need to find a picnic table, but it was too cool at 10,700 feet to stay long, especially when raindrops began to fall.
The city population was 813 at the 2000 US census.*
Like most towns in the Colorado mountains, Ouray was originally a mining town. However the evidence does not dominate the town. The largest and most famous mine is the Camp Bird Mine, the second largest gold mine in Colorado, established by Thomas Walsh in 1896.*
While Camp Bird Road is generally passable for small sport utility vehicles, there are some places that are fairly rough and, a couple, like the rock overhang above, that can be down right unnerving for some people.
I still have a lot to learn about my camera, but was able to get a decent time lapse shot of Sneffels Creek without a tripod.
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Commentary and images from the road
image and information from September 10, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About
* from Wikipedia
September 9, 2009
We’ve gone past the Black Canyon of the Gunnison several times. The first time we really stopped, though, was after it became Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, having originally been established as a national monument. This time we visited most of the easily accessible parts of the park.
From Wikipedia:
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a United States National Park located in western Colorado, and managed by the National Park Service. There are two entrances to the park; the more-developed south rim entrance is located 15 miles (24 km) east of Montrose, while the north rim entrance is located 11 miles (18 km) south of Crawford and is closed in the winter. The park contains 12 miles (19 km) of the 48-mile (77 km) long canyon of the Gunnison river. The national park itself contains the deepest and most dramatic section of the canyon, but the canyon continues upstream into the Curecanti National Recreation Area and downstream into the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area.
Photos:
(click on any of the following photos to view a larger image.)
Black Canyon visitor center
The area was established as a U.S. National Monument on March 2, 1933 and made into a National Park on October 21, 1999.
Gunnison River
In the canyon
Kayakers run the river at their own risk. The Gunnison River through the National Park has claimed the lives of even the most experienced, respected kayakers. The river’s hydraulics can make self-rescue or rescue by others impossible.
Most visitors view the canyon from the south, where there are numerous overlooks, as well as a campground and trails.
a canyon overlook
Over the black canyon
The rapids within the national park are considered Class V and some sections are unrunnable. This is a very technical paddle and includes numerous long, difficult and dangerous portages. Poison ivy is nearly impossible to avoid, and can be found growing 5 feet tall along the river.
Eastern Portal - road into canyon
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Commentary and images from the road
image and information from September 9, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About
This new notebook sure is small compared to her old one.
What was she thinking?
November 6, 2009
Commentary and images from the road
image and information from September 13, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About
Mesa Verde National Park, September 13, 2009
I figure she was just thinking about seeing the cliff dwellings up close and personal.
It was obvious, though, to us, that she’s not a regular on trails.
The shoulder bag is a dead giveaway.
Generally, the only places we ever see women with purses on trails are relatively short trails that go to gotta-see sights.
Cliff Palace is certainly a gotta-see, but really….
And the footwear.
Granted, we did see a lot of people wearing sandals and flip-flops, but, again, I doubt that many of them are out on trails of any kind on a regular basis — I think her flip-flops were to show off her pretty red toe-nails.
But the real question was the skirt.
I doubt that she was thinking about the climb up out of the canyon — or maybe didn’t know, until it was too late.
The way out was very steep — and included near-vertical ladders.
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The image on the right was taken from across the canyon. I processed it on my computer to lighten it so that the dark crack in the rocks where the exit climb was could be seen.
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