Mesas and Monuments

About 200 people would have lived in this village. Friends just "dropped in"


These monument rocks are the size of small mountains








Mesa Verde is a short distance south of Durango and well worth a visit. The top of the mesa is from 7,000 to 8,000 feet high and, at one time, supported a population of as many as 40,000 Anisazi, ancestors of the current Pueblo Indian tribes (more people than live in the entire region today). The mesa has been inhabited since 400 A.D. Early settlers lived in pit-houses dug into the mesa’s top surface, graduating to adobe pueblos, also on the surface. As time went on the inhabitants moved onto the numerous canyon walls and built fabulous cliff-dwelling “settlements” inside the many cave-like openings, suspended midway down the walls. Sleepwalking could have been fatal!!! These people eventually vacated the mesa and the area, due to years of drought and, moved south. By reason of the overhanging canyon walls, the settlements are extremely well preserved. They are largely protected from the elements,. The primitive technologies used in building and, other life skills are impressive. The National Parks Service wins again!!

It was a race to get to Monument Valley before sunset. With a quick stop at “The Four Corners”, I got someone to take a picture with parts of my feet in each of Colorado, Utah, Nevada and New Mexico. The drive passed places such as Wildcat Canyon and Rattlesnake Gulch (I now know what a gulch is…..) After almost running out of gas…….(gas stations are not so numerous in the open spaces), I made it to Monument Valley in time to catch a so-so sunset. But, the monument rock formations are anything but so-so!! It is easy to see why the Indians considered the area sacred. John Wayne is BIG in these parts ma’am. He made a lot of movies here!!

The big open spaces of southern Colorado and Utah and northern Arizona are very empty. I was without cell phone coverage for a couple of days and, learned to keep my gas tank at least half full. In severe weather, I would be traveling with a week’s worth of groceries………just in case. Funny how we get used to all the conveniences near-at-hand.