Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde means green mesa – green flat topped mountain.  It is a remarkable fortress-land of flat topped plains isolated by erosion.  The cradle of a budding civilization cropped and excited by 20 year drought, deforestation, and resource depletion, it is not alone.  The Pueblo-dwelling descendants of those who built Mesa-Verde’s cliff and cliff-top houses claim that the presence of their ancestors remains.  And although the story of their discovery is that cowboys searching for  lost cows stumbled upon the ancient cliff-villages, the truth is more complex – the landmarks were pointed out to them by the native American who traveled with them.

The climb to the national park was rendered even more exciting by our van’s erratic behavior on the way to the park gates.  Overheated from more than 24 hours of nearly constant driving, the van stalled out several times on the road from Pagosa Springs to Piedra.  We limped into Piedra to buy gas (which seemed to help for a time) by accelerating for a half minute while the engine ran, and then coasting down the slope for another half mile after it had stalled.  A slow way to travel, but faster than the speed of a bicyclist we passed.  Fortunately the cooler air of this mountain fastness helped the engine regain its vitality.

The traverse feels like one is entering a walled kingdom.  Massive ramparts of stone, sheer walls of sandstone cap-rock.  Vast vistas of the surrounding country in the evening air.  Precipitous drops.

And then a gradual descent to the campground.  A green valley swept by wind, with half-tame deer ambling through the low forest and the loops of a pleasant campground.  Gambrel oak, pinion pine, juniper, and other trees.  Our first campfire.  First night in our new tent.  First night of cooking on camp-table-top. 

Mesa Verde was inhabited by the ancestral Puebloans from about 600 AD to 1300 AD.  They began with houses dug into the soil on the top of the mesa – pit houses roofed with wood, mud, and other materials.  Corn, beans, and squash grew on the mesa, and extensive and intensive agriculture made effective use of the limited moisture of the mesa to build the sustenance for a civilization.  Dogs and turkeys were the domesticated animals.  

The civilization developed progressively larger buildings, and the residents became skilled stone-masons.  Eventually at least some of the residents shifted from mesa-top living to the cliff-dwellings that have made them famous.  Rooms were plastered and painted, and stone walls were built several stories high. 

Our guide for the tour of Long House helped keep things fun, and was very tolerant of Miriam's great desire to explore the ancient town by walking barefoot through its plazas, and playing in its dust.  Miriam would have liked to do more climbing on the walls, and to have entered more spaces and rooms. 

One thing that struck me was her discussion of the varying interpretations put on what the ancients left by different interpreters.  Is the loose rock wall of a ledge above the town a reflection of a storage space (archeologists) or was this a place for practicing different building techniques, or even a child's play space (native American visitors to the site). 

Archeologists speculate that the "sun temple" site on mesa top was a temple.  But their evidence is slender.  It looked like a fortress to me.

The ascent from Long House to the mesa was by three ladders.  Miriam was at this point in open rebellion, and nothing short of a sling ride with benefits would suffice to persuade her to allow her mother to haul her up.

Although the mesa was hot, it was beautiful.  As Sarah, David, and I climbed into the underground Kiva room of one cliff village, we could feel the vitality of this civilization cut short by drought, overcrowding, and resource exhaustion.  The smoke of these communal spaces which provided shelter from both heat and cold.

As we drove away into the Colorado and (by mistake) New Mexico lands surrounding the park, the vast cliffs of Mesa Verde followed us for many miles.  Massive ramparts with scattered green, still living with the memories of long ago.