Six days after we returned from Turkey and Greece, we set off for Santa Fe, New Mexico to participate in the Exploritas program titled: Anasazi Culture and the Four Corners Region. Although we have been in that area and visited Mesa Verde National Park a couple of times, we had never visited the other Native American sites. That plus the opportunity to make these visits with an expert guide made this an extremely appealing program - so off we went, still a little jet-lagged but at least it was nearly all in our own time zone. After the program, we spent three days in Santa Fe, a favorite place to visit.
Itinerary for Anasazi Culture and the Four Corners Region
Trip Map
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Sunday, 10/11/09 Leave Estes Park
We headed south after lunch (ate as many leftovers as possible). When we left Estes Park it was 50°, but when we got into the canyon the temperature plummeted into the 20’s. It stayed in the 20’s the rest of the day. We only drove to Monument, CO, on I-25, when the battery and brake warning lights came on and Marge lost the power steering in the Subaru. We were able to get off the interstate at exit 161 and were lucky enough to have a Conoco station right there that had 3 service bays and had a real mechanic, who, of course, didn’t work on Sundays. I called my friends Donna and Doug Wigton (Donna was in Utah at the Huntsman Senior Games) who live 15 miles away and Doug was able to come and rescue us for the night. We left the car for the mechanic to work on first thing Monday morning. We watched the football game at Doug’s house, took him to dinner, slept in their guest room, took him to breakfast, and were back on the road and headed south in our repaired (new idler pulley and serpentine belt) car by 11 AM Monday. It is good to know that there are still great mechanics working in service stations – you only have to find them, or be lucky like we were.
Monday, 10/12
We arrived in Santa Fe at 4:45, in plenty of time to check in for our Exploritas tour.
All has worked out. Our room is nice, our group is large (32), but we met some nice women at dinner that was a soft taco buffet line. It was very good Tex-Mex. After dinner we met for orientation. We have people from all over in this group - California, Florida, Rhode Island, Delaware, Kansas, South Carolina, etc. Oh, and our tour guide, Jay, was born and raised in the Tacony section of Philadelphia!
Today was lecture day. Before lunch we got the history of people who have lived in the Four Corners area for at least 50,000 years.
Since the purpose of this web page is mostly to provide pictures of our trips, if you are interested in the extensive and controversial information about the Anasazi culture, you should put "Anasazi" or "Anasazi Culture" into Google and you will find a wealth of information.
After lunch the lectures continued with an explanation of archaeoastronomy. (Google "Archaeoastronomy" or "Acheoastronomy" for lots of information on the subject. Delimit your search to "Archaeoastronomy Anasazi" for specific information about the Native Americans of the Southwest.) It is amazing how prehistoric man on every continent could use the sun and moon to create calendars and build structures that indicated the phases of the moon and the movement of the sun in relation to the earth’s movement. These structures are intriguing. There are also indications of geo-ritual orientation along the east-west and north-south lines of mother earth prior to the use of the solar and lunar calendars.
We got a little free time before an early dinner to digest some of the background information. We walked across the street to the Santa Fe Place mall and walked around. It felt good to move after all of the lectures. After dinner we repacked to leave things in the car that we wouldn’t need on the bus tour. After a little reading and writing it was early to bed for an early breakfast and departure tomorrow.
Wednesday, 10/14 - Santa Fe to Cortez, CO
Our 7:30 AM bus arrived at 8 AM and then we headed north and west toward Cortez. We had a picnic lunch in the park by the river in Pagosa Springs, CO at noon. We then stopped to look at (a photo op) Chimney Rock, which is probably the farthest northeast that the Chaco culture and pueblos spread.
Our chariot for the trip
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Chimney Rock |
We arrived in Cortez at 3 PM and checked in to the Baymont Inn and Suites. At 4:30 we drove through Cortez and had 45 minutes to “shop” at a very nice Indian trading post - jewelry, rugs, and pottery with a little museum downstairs. We walked a few blocks and then had dinner at Nero’s Italian Restaurant. The food was good but not outstanding. We were back at our hotel by 7:15 to read and watch football.
The scenery on the drive from Santa Fe to Cortez was spectacular. The air was so clear we could see forever. The rock formations around Georgia O’Keefe’s Ghost Ranch and Echo Amphitheater were extremely clear and colorful. It is no wonder that country is a haven for artists.
Thursday, 10/15 – Cortez, CO - Mesa Verde National Park
We spent today at Mesa Verde National Park observing the structures that Jay lectured about two days ago. It was another extremely clear day and we could see mountains, with snow on top, that were 100 miles away. We also had a good view of Shiprock on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico. (Link to Map, use back arrow to return.)
(click on the link for a much better picture of this Navajo sacred mountain)
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There is evidence of human life here in the Mesa Verde area from about 6,000 BC. Most of the ruins we looked at were from 600 to 1250 AD. We saw the typical pithouse circa 600 AD with its four postholes and a ledge around the outside to help hold the latillas (peeled sticks used as traditional ceiling material) from sliding out under the weight of the mud and cedar roof. We looked at a “double” pithouse that probably indicates an adjacent pit dug after the first house burned down.
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Pithouse ruins - 600 AD
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Metate for grinding, e.g., corn |
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Excavations of a sequence of three structures built on top of each other. The evidence of the first “village” was a kiva and square surface post and adobe rooms from about 900 AD. A hundred years later a second “village” with a more refined kiva and square rooms can be seen. The third “village,” circa 1100 AD had a well-made kiva, three towers, and double-coursed masonry walls (two rows of stone with fill between) around the living and storage rooms. This third village shows superior architecture and masonry.
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By 1200 AD most of the surface structures were abandoned and people moved to cliff dwellings for defensive reasons. From Sun Point we viewed several cliff dwelling ruins on the south face of the mesa. We looked at Oak Tree house from the bus. We had a good look at Fire Temple from the bus with a kiva to the west and the dance floor to the east of the cliff houses.
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Oak Tree House - 1250 AD
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Fire Temple - 1250 AD |
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We wandered around the 1250 AD Sun Temple up on top of the mesa. It has three kivas and is either an unfinished structure or one with no roof on purpose to be able to observe the sun. The sandstone blocks that made the walls were “pecked” to score a line and then snap the stone to the desired size and shape and then “pecked” to finish the squared off form. The walls were covered with adobe and painted.
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Sun Temple
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Sun Temple |
We had some good views of Cliff House from across the canyon and then had a picnic lunch up by the visitor’s center. We complimented our sandwiches (from Once Upon a Sandwich in Cortez) with Snapple and raspberry ice tea powder since we don’t especially like Pepsi.
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Cliff Palace
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Cliff Palace |
We walked down and roamed through Spruce House, which might have had 114 rooms and 8 kivas. We went down a ladder into one of the restored kivas to get any “spiritual vibes” that might be there. Then we walked through the museum and looked at dioramas of what life might have been like in the various structures across time. On display were probable tools, baskets, pottery, clothing, etc.
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Spruce Tree House - Uprights are for the ladder leading down to the kiva below
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Chapin Mesa Museum Pueblo Architecture exhibit
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Our last stop was at Far View House, Pipe Shrine House, a fake reservoir, and Coyote Village. These clusters of villages on the surface were built between 975 and 1250 AD. Far View House was probably at least two stories high. Pipe bowls and stems of bone were found in the Pipe Shrine houses. The fake reservoir was probably a dance area with steps and a ramp onto a smooth floor and a wall for observers to sit or stand on. The reservoirs in this area all show narrow striations of sediment left each year before the next rainy season filled it up again. This place does not have such a base. Coyote house was neat because we could climb among the structures. It has six kivas and one tower and many rooms.
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Far View Communities Site - Pipe Shrine House
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Far View Communities Site - Far View House
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Far View Communities Site - Coyote Village |
We still had perfectly clear air on the way out and the plateau and scenery were outstanding. We had more Italian dinner (veggie lasagna) at Nero’s. It was good but the paperback bookstore we visited first was more interesting - only $3 for used books. On the way back to the Baymont Inn the driver let us off at Wal-Mart to buy a Mesa Verde spoon for my collection, more small tablets for taking notes while touring, and a banana for tomorrow’s breakfast. We are exciting shoppers!
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