Southwest 2018 #4: Mesa Verde, Mountain Roads, and Dinosaurs

Sun Temple Dwelling

Mesa Verde National Park

Cliff Palace

Cliff Palace is one of the cliff dwellings you can tour with a guide.

Cliff Palace

The park and now World Heritage Site was approved by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1906 along with the Federal Antiquities Act of 1906.  Mesa Verde, meaning “green table” in Spanish, was “discovered” by Mexican-American missionaries and explorers in the late 1700s. 

These two photos show Square Tower House.

The largest archeological preserve in the country, the park contains more than 600 cliff dwellings of Ancient Puebloans (Anasazi who occupied the area about 750 CE). The area was first settled by ancient natives in c. 7500 BCE and was abandoned by 1285 CE. Today, visitors can visually explore the remains of dwellings from the canyon rims and in some locations tour the ruins with park guides. 

Spruce Tree House is accessible from the main visitor area at the top of the mesa--there is a large Visitor Center at the bottom of the mesa.

We’ve visited several times and always find the views of the ancient cliff dwellings inspiring.

Durango to Silverton to Ouray to Grand Junction.

After four days in Durango our next destination was Grand Junction several hours north. The only practical route was over the mountains—around the mountains would have taken twice as long. The route gave us a full day of adventures.

 
     On the way out of Durango we caught up with the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. The tourist train makes daily runs on the 45 mile track to Silverton. Originally opened in 1882 to transport material and silver ore between the two towns, it has run continuously since opening. The line uses only steam engines and was given over to tourist runs in 1947.

The photos above show the scenery between Durango and Silverton.

The view of Silverton coming into town.

Silverton (silver-by-the-ton) is a former silver mining camp. It’s now a National Historic Landmark District and the county seat of San Juan County. 

Waving train passengers over to eat in his restaurant.

It’s one of the highest towns in the US at 9,318’ above sea level, and its population of 531 consists mostly of people in the tourist trade, mine clean-up staff, and a few retirees.

Next on the route comes Ouray, CO, with a population of 1000. It is the county seat of Ouray County and sits at an elevation of 7,792 feet.

Miners (gold and silver) formed the town in 1872 and named it after Chief Ouray of the local Ute tribe. 

The biggest adventure of our day came from driving the Red Mountain Pass road, called the Million Dollar Highway, from Silverton to Ouray. 

Red Mountain

The highway is characterized by steep cliffs on both sides, numerous switchbacks and hairpin corners, narrow lanes, and most frightening a noticeable lack of guardrails. 

Look...No guardrails!!!

Oh, and the day’s journey went over three passes: Coal Bank Pass (10,640’), Molas Pass (10,970’), and red Mountain Pass (11, 018’).

Another dramatic road leading out of Ouray towards Canyon Pintado.

Leaving Ouray we traveled through Canyon Pintado (meaning “painted canyon”). The canyon has several rock art sites along a 14-mile stretch—the art is mostly Fremont Culture (AD650-1150) and Ute (AD1200-1880).

The strapping is holding the Kokopelli (Anasazi hump-backed flute player) rock art in place.

Needless to say, dinner at a nice Grand Junction Italian restaurant with a good glass of wine, was a welcome end to the day.

This cactus plant was in bloom at the Kokopelli site.

Dinosaur National Monument

Our reason to stay in our next location, Vernal, UT, (after Grand Junction) was for access to Dinosaur National Monument on the east side of the Uinta Mountains between Colorado and Utah. President Wilson declared the area a national monument in 1915 after the first bones were discovered in 1909. 

The Wall of Bones

The Quarry Museum, reached by a free shuttle from the Visitor’s Center, houses some great displays of dinosaur fossils and the main attraction: a “wall of bones.” The museum has been refurbished and reopened in 2011.

Confluence of the Green and Yampa Rivers near the monument Visitor Center.

Besides having over 800 paleontological sites, we were interested in some of the other historic sites in the monument—especially the native rock art. We took the Tilted Rock Auto Tour—a 15-20 mile route along the border of the monument. 

Especially interesting to us were the petroglyphs and pictographs at varying locations along the tour—Swelter Shelter was the best site with Fremont Culture art about 1000 years old. Josie Bassett’s house at Cub Creek was also fascinating. 

Behind the Bassett House is a beautiful patch of wild iris and a great view.

Built in 1914, Bassett—a rancher and friend to Butch and Sundance—lived in the house until her death in 1963. Photographically, the best site was a small box canyon across from Josie’s house.

From Price (UT) to Moab (UT) to Durango (CO) to Grand Juction (CO) to Vernal (UT) to home. What a great southwest trip.

One of the iris behind Bassett House.

NEXT: The weather has turned for the better (after a rainy start) on our trip to Banff National Park and Jasper National Park. Photos and stories to follow.

Southwest Adventures, Part 3

Rio Grande Canyon

Our Southwest trip now continued with Santa Fe, New Mexico, as our base. Santa Fe has changed greatly since I started summer teaching at the College of Santa Fe in the late 1980s. For one thing, the college has folded, reopened, and folded again. The city has grown, of course, but the feel of the “City Different” has basically stayed the same. 

Our digs in Santa Fe were at the Santa Fe Worldmark (timeshare) where we had a pleasant one bedroom unit in the oldest part of the facility. 

From there we looked forward to a week of adventures. 

The first full day we stayed in town visited a few of the main attractions. First was the downtown Plaza with its art and souvenir shops. 

Outside art in the Plaza area.

The shop that got our serious attention was Starbucks—we’d been too long without our fix. Shopping was at the Governor’s Palace, 

an area under cover set aside for native crafters to sell their wares—you’re guaranteed of handmade native goods there. Anne found a couple of sellers with earrings she liked 

and I found a native couple who will make me a special bracelet. 

It was a short walk from the Plaza to the Basilica Cathedral St Francis of Assisi. 

Built in 1886 by Archbishop Jean Batiste Lamy, the church serves as the mother church for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. 

Lovely outside, the church has a beautiful interior highlighted by historic stained-glass windows. On the other side of the Plaza from the church we enjoyed the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and the Andrew Smith photo Gallery next door. The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, opened in 1997, celebrates the artistic legacy of one of America’s premier  artist, called the Mother of American Modernism. 

An iconic O'Keeffe image.

The museum exhibits tell the story of O’Keeffe through videos, her art, and photographs by contemporaries such as Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz, and others. Not cheap (but then very little in Santa Fe is), the tour of the museum is worth both the money and the time. 

Photo of dog in photo shop.

Next to the museum is a small photography gallery that used to be exceptional. Now, much of the lower floor is converted into an antique shop, but the upper floor still had some nice photography on display—and there’s no fee to visit.

Before golf on our second day we drove out to the La Cieneguilla Petroglyph site on the edge of town. We expected a short hike and lots of accessible rock art, at least that’s what various guidebooks said. 

The hike to the base of the rock cliff with the art was 15 minutes and then we began the climb up a 200 yard boulder field. We were ill prepared for this type of trail. I managed to get up to the art, but Anne struggled more with the rocks and uneven footing. Talking to other visitors, I found out that the art extends along the cliff face for about a mile. 

The Cieneguilla area is famous for Kokopelli images--Kokopelli is the humpbacked flute playing fertility god.

I settled with what I could see at this first site and then helped Anne back down through the rocks. This will be a place to come back to with more time and better equipped with boots and hiking stick.

Saturday [End of the World Day] was our Taos Day. We took the High Road to Taos which is longer and more scenic than the freeway and would take that road again. We made several stops for photos at vistas and local historic churches, but our best stop was at El Sanctuario de Chimayo in that small village. 

This early 19th century church has become a pilgrimage site attracting almost half a million visitors each year. The main adobe church with two bell towers is lovely both inside and out (no photos inside). 

The whole sanctuary village is a photographers paradise with interesting shrines and architecture. In Taos we did a little spending at a local artists’ market and then wandered in the shops in the old town square. 

Photo gallery in Taos

Taos art Kokopelli.

We ended our Taos trip paying homage to famous photographer Ansel Adams when we visited one of the spots he and Georgia O’Keeffe made famous, the San Francisco de Asis Church. 

Completed in 1816, the adobe church is recognized as a fine example of Spanish colonial mission architecture. The church is a treasure inside and out and has been an inspiration for numerous artists. 

I spent about an hour trying to get a good set of photos. This is one of my favorite places to visit in the world.

On Sunday, after wandering in the artist area of Santa Fe known as Canyon Road,  

Canyon Road Art Shop

An average house on Canyon road in Santa Fe.

we met our adopted New Mexico niece, Jasmine, her husband, Zach, and their 10-month old girl, Zea, at Kakawa Chocolate Shop. Between hot chocolate and sweets at Kakawa and lunch at Cafe Pasqual’s, we had a wonderful visit. 

Jas is the daughter of  Bill and Cat Bennet whom I taught summer debate camp for; we watched Jas grow up and have managed to keep in touch. Look up Zach and Jas’s “natural farm” website at  www.wildhoodfarm.com.

Our last touring day was spent at Bandelier National Monument about forty miles from Santa Fe. We arrived at White Rock Visitor Center, but had just missed the shuttle bus to Bandelier. During high season, to limit auto traffic at the monument, White Rock provides a free shuttle ride to the monument. The shuttle takes 25 minutes and runs  every half hour. At Bandelier we hiked the main trail up to and past ancient cliff dwellings and petroglyphs.

 There was even one set of pictographs (painted images instead of chipped)

—usually, pictoraphs are only seen in extremely inaccessible locations. Anne hiked the main trail back to the visitor center while I hiked an extra mile to Alcove House. 

Alcove House--takes four ladders to get up to it.

After spending two hours in the park, we boarded the shuttle back to White Rock. 

Our flight home ended up being delayed by about five hours due to storm damage to the plane we were supposed to board in Albuquerque. 

The delayed flight gave us plenty of time to reflect upon our great trip and start planning the next trip to the lovely Southwest.

NEXT: Greeting from Scotland as We Enjoy Our 30th Trip since 2000.