I got up early in the morning and rushed to the Cliff Palace to get early light on the beautiful sandstone. Unfortunately, I got my directions wrong. Cliff Palace faces west while The Balcony house faces east. Cliff Palace is a signt best visited in evenings.
The photo below is a collage made by stitching over 12 discrete photos and the original size is capable of providing an awesome detail on zoom
Later in the day, we grabbed a big brunch at the far View Terrace and stopped at the visitor center to buy tickets. In July 2000, Mesa Verde experienced a major fire which came within miles of the Visitor Center. Preparing for the worst, the local had doused the visitor center with over 10,000 gallons of fire retardant The visitor center survived by the skin of the teeth.
The Cliff Palace, Balcony house and Long View House need tickets that can only be purchased at the Far View visitor center. The ticket - $3 a piece - includes the ranger guided tours to these sites.
Cliff Palace is the largest of the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde. With about 150 rooms and 23 kivas, at its peak occupation, housed about 500of the Anasazi. The ruins are in very good shape....
The structure seen in this picture presides majestically over the ruins with 4 levels reaching all the way to the roof of the alcove. Based on its location and size, Archaeologists theorize that this was possible the dwelling for the clan chieftain or the high priest.
There are two things worth noting in this picture.
Look at the bottom center of the picture. The structure is built on a fallen rock. The rock has developed a crack that has crawled up into the main structure. When the site was first being stabilized in early 1900, engineers went below the rock with metal and mortar. To their surprise, they saw that the Anasazi engineers had been in the exact same spot - 800 years ago - armed with adobe mud and pinyon Juniper logs.
Behind the structure, along the roof of the alcove, a natural ledge has been built out for storage.The attic has exactly as much windows as the kivas in Cliff Palace and still has a cache of ancient corn.
The site has characteristic kivas - with six pilasters for the roof support, narrow banquets, deflector walls to prevent smoke from the fire-pit flooding the kiva and the sipapu.
Rhea was fascinated by the religious significance of the sipapu - a little hole in the ground that represents the entry orifice of mankind.
We were at the Cliff Palace right around high noon.
Notice, behind me in the picture, how the ruins have been built inches inside the shadow line.
The Anasazi did not chose their alcoves - grabbing any and all real estate that they could lay their hands on. Neither are any of the sites built to a specific plan, the natural lines of the alcove deciding what needs to be built where.
That meant Improvising was high on the basic principles of design.
Preservation of heat must have been high up on their minds given how heavily these sites gets snowed in winter - Spruce Tree House is the only house open year around, all other sites are closed down.
Having extensively read up on the site and the general Anasazi way of life before being in situ allowed me to detach myself from the group and the ranger's monologue and wander freely amidst the ruins.
I got tons of photos as if I was the only person on the ruins.
The picture here depicts one of many towers on the site - a four storeyed structure - sans any built staircases that obviously points to the usage of wooden ladders.
Interestingly, I do not remember reading any of the excavations inventories listing discovery of wooden ladders . The dry Colorado climate helps excellent preservation of wood - as is with the abundance of "drying racks" in every ruin.
So the question is, where are the ladders?
Or rather, how did Anasazi get to the penthouse?
We exited the site using the steps built in the last century by CCC.
It is interesting how most of the modern construction on the site including Jesse Nusbaum's 1910 modifications, cleanly merges with the ancient building style.
The steps seem ancient - and are - if you discount the timescale.
But then timescale does funny tricks to ones mind.
I remember a lunch in Egypt.
As we sat during a late lunch during the sent of our tour, our guide tried to point of a nearby ruin. 600 AD he proudly declared. Neither the Askis not the Shindes moved their eyes away from the table. When you have seen and roamed structures built 5000 years before present, 1400 year old structures seem unimpressive.
I made sure I did not repeat that mistake. I enjoyed every step that took me away from the Cliff Palace (and closer to the Balcony house)
The picture below is taken approximately within 10 yards radius of the alleged spot Wetherhill and Mason stood in December 1888 looking for the lost cattle and discovering the ruins - the first time ever that a Caucasian eye was leads on this stonework.
The picture is taken near the fire temple lookout. This is an awesome spot to be at around sunset time (which is when I took them ), though it is definitely not the best spot. If given a chance again, I would take the last of the tours of the cliff palace - around 6:00 PM - not only is it less crowded, it presents the best light to photograph Cliff Palace.
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