Mesa Verde National Park isn't on a mesa, the inhabitants weren't Anasazi, and it probably shouldn't even be a National Park.
From the valley below, it does look like a table-top mesa but it is actually a cuesta, with a gentle slope in the rear that made it relatively easy for the Ancestral Puebloans to migrate to the fertile ridge top. And the park is the only one of the original National Parks designated not for its grand vistas or natural wonders but specifically because of the cliff dwellings.
The problem for the selection committee was simply that this is one of the most extraordinary places in the world -- it was designated as one of the first World Heritage sites -- and if it's not really a National Park, it may well be the world's first Cultural Park.
As impressive as the photographs of the ruins are, they really don't do justice to the wealth of archaeological sites in the park with more than 600 different cliff dwellings and over 5000 other sites. The population for the entire area at its peak is estimated at about 30,000. Compare this to nearby Silverton, which, at the peak of its gold rush period, had a booming population of several thousand inhabitants.
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| Cliff Palace across the valley and Closeup |
Unfortunately, the lack of a written language always means that anything beyond the physical evidence itself is simply speculation. The adobe structures at Mesa Verde are similar to those throughout the southwest and no one really knows why they built them in the alcoves on the cliffsides since being separated from your food source wouldn't seem to offer many advantages. What is known is that the cliff dwellings were built at the end of the period when Mesa Verde was populated. The adobe structures on the surface were built earlier and an incomplete cliffside development was abandoned as the population departed.
The alcoves have provided protection to the adobe structures over the years and they looked as though they were just built yesterday. It was easy to see the quality of some of the structures and the slapdash efforts in others.
Mesa Verde is really a long distance from anywhere and was only re-discovered during a search for lost cattle in 1888. Our guide joked that visitors will ask why the Puebloans built so far from the main highway, but it really is a very isolated place. We flew into Albuquerque, then drove 3-1/2 hours to Durango and then rode 35 miles to the Visitors' Centers and another 20 miles to the park proper.
Cliff Palace, the largest cliffside development, had just closed for renovation the week before we arrived, but we did visit the Spruce Tree House ruins and go on a Ranger-led tour of Balcony House. This tour required a little bit of work, but the Ancient Puebloans didn't even have the walkway down or the ladders up that the Park Service added for our "convenience." They had to make do with toe holes but we did get to exit through their tunnel.
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| Ladder going up to Balcony House |
I have to say that this really is a fascinating place, but I found it very frustrating that it raised so many questions and no one can provide much in the way of answers.
Other Things
DSNG
We have been going on more railroad trips than National Park trips these last few years, but this trip had both. The Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge steam train is one of the biggest operations going and is best known for its scenic beauty. We timed it to be in Silverton on the first day of fall at the beginning of the peak color.
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| Engine 480 |
Narrow gauge railroads are not designed for comfort and even padded seats get hard after 3-1/2 hours (everything in this area seems to be 3-1/2 hours away from everything else), but the experience was definitely worth the effort. The train followed the Animas River up from Durango to Silverton and we saw the last effects of the EPA toxic spill and watched the fall color increase as we traveled higher in elevation.
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| Silverton, CO |
NEW YORK / PENNSYLVANIA ADDENDUM
Cooperstown, Erie, Niagara Falls and Pittsburgh
There's more to life than National Parks and the National Pastime is the proof. I have been a baseball fan from the age of six when I saw my first professional baseball game, through my little league team winning the Borough Championship the summer I was 12, followed by the Pirates winning the World Series that fall. A visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame has always been something I intended to do and the San Francisco Giants' third World Series victory gave us the excuse we needed to do it now. We were not disappointed.
That was an interesting trip overall. We flew into Albany and drove to Cooperstown and then headed for Erie PA for genealogic research (it seems both of us have strong family ties there). We visited Presque Isle where we were able to sample Sara's great orange sherbet swirl (thanks Bettina!), and saw the Perry Memorial. We also saw monstrous piles of sand being used to revitalize the beaches.
(Presque Isle is French for peninsula. So, saying "Presque Isle peninsula" is like saying "Rio Grande river" or "Sierra Nevada mountains", but people still do.)
While we were in Erie, we made a side trip to Niagara Falls and I seriously considered writing this up as a National Park trip. It's very obvious that Niagara Falls would have been one of our premier parks if it hadn't already been a major tourist attraction long before the concept of a National Park was envisioned. Thankfully, the state of New York preserved the area when it established the country's first state park in 1885 and brought in Fredrick Law Olmstead to design the park's development.
We have been to Niagara Falls on several occasions including in 1969 when the water going over American falls was diverted to leave the area dry, but this is the first time we actually visited the state park. The most popular views of the falls are from the Canadian side of the border and that was where we always went. We had our passports with us, but didn't want to go through the re-entry hassle, so we stayed on the American side.
This was actually a fascinating way to see the falls and made for an entirely different experience. You can actually look down and watch the water fall to the river below and then cross the river to visit Goat Island which sits between the falls.
One change that really caught my eye was the boat tours at the bottom of the falls. We rode the Maid of the Mist back when it traveled from the Canadian side to the American side, picking up passengers on both sides. But now, as you look down on the river below, there is the American Maid of the Mist filled with passengers wearing blue raincoats and the Canadian Hornblower boats filled with passengers wearing red raincoats. The sight of multiple boats is really quite colorful as a result.
From Erie, it was on to Pittsburgh for our High School reunion . . . not our class reunion but the High School reunion . . . for everyone who ever graduated from Edgewood High School. The school closed in the early 80s and there is no one under 50 who can claim to be a graduate. This seems like a big deal, but Edgewood closed as result of a major merger of the schools east of Pittsburgh, so this also applies to anyone who graduated from Swissvale, Rankin, Churchill, Braddock, North Braddock or Turtle Creek.
Nevertheless, it was fun seeing old friends. Many of us had brothers and sisters who were either two years older or two years younger and we were such a small school that friendships weren't restricted to classmates. Good times.
