May 21: Ladders, Tunnels, and Castles

Beautiful weather today! The cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde are truly remarkable. We visited the two most famous ones, Cliff Palace, and Balcony House, which date to A.D. 1200-1300. These are available only through ranger-guided tours. We approached extensive (150 room) Cliff Palace through a series of staircases, narrow trails perched on the edge of a a vertical cliff, and ladders. The Balcony House tour involves long ladders, carved footholds, and a tunnel that must be negotiated on hands and knees. Our ranger guides told us some remarkable things that illustrate the high degree of sophistication the residents of these pueblos had developed, in terms of engineering, water management, and dry agriculture. Plum bobs were found on these sites. This accounts for the perfectly vertical walls they were able to construct. By constructing check dams on the mesas above the dwellings, they allowed water to percolate down through the sandstone to emerge as springs, instead of allowing the runoff to cascade freely down canyon walls. They understood the porous nature of the stone, and took full advantage of it. They mastered dry farming techniques that allowed them to produce crops, even in the absence of rain by constructing reservoirs and ditches, and by using sandstone chunks to retain moisture. These people were far from savages!

The cliff dwellings are thought to be a type of fortification. They could be reached from above and below only by using carved hand and footholds in the canyon walls. The climb from the canyon bottom to the dwelling was often 500-600 feet. Residents must have been in terrific shape, and must have had a lot of protein available in their diets to be able to pull this off. All of their food was grown on the mesa tops.

The dwellings contain original wood beams, and at Balcony House, a wood and adobe balcony that is still supported by its original timbers. Amazing engineering!

Tomorrow, we head for Canyon de Chelly, AZ, which is a national monument situated on Navajo land. There is a primitive campground with no water, and (needless to say) no Internet. We have booked a jeep tour of the area, with a Navajo guide, which is the only way to see it. The Canyon contains pueblos that continue to be occupied by about 500 people. The Navajo are descended from the Puebloans of Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon. We will fill you on on our adventures when we have Internet access again. Bye for now!!