Oh my !!!! Mesa Verde

[JPGLSG]

It was a pretty easy walk down hill to get to this point in the first photo to find the petroglyph trail Head. Just 1.5 miles in and 1.5 miles out, the trail got interesting quickly. If you are a big guy you aren’t going to fit !!! It was up, down, squeeze through, and over boulders. At many points if you had a miss step on this trail, you would be in trouble.

Well finally the prize at the end of the trail !!!! The two figures in the rock are me and Lefty celebrating our wild thang, and that’s my hand prints as proof.

We had to sign in and out with Ranger Rick to make sure we got back, we hold the recording for the longest time round trip. We told him it was our wild thang that held us up.

We came back the next day to do the Canyon trail.

Stay tuned the adventure continues further north, we got the crap scared out of us in the jeep !!!!!

 

[m657]

Thanks for the photos of a great site!!!

years ago we climbed a pole ladder to get to the little hole in the rock to squeeze thru......The Ranger's had would pass one way thru it but rotated 90* it wouldn't fit.

I fit.....barely....

The Ranger would have to have a bigger hat these days....

Did they ever figure out why the clan disappeared? Not just 'drought/weather' was it???

 

[RugerHound]

Amazing! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Mike Armstrong]

What a great place that is! We visited for a couple of days in June this year. Super pix!

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

Very cool I went by there when I was a kid. Don't think I'd fit now. :roll: :oops:

 

[toysoldier]

Did they ever figure out why the clan disappeared? Not just 'drought/weather' was it???

That's a hot topic in archaeological circles, with new discoveries and research constantly changing the picture. There's no consensus at this time.

 

[mohavesam]

Did they ever figure out why the clan disappeared? Not just 'drought/weather' was it???

That's a hot topic in archaeological circles, with new discoveries and research constantly changing the picture. There's no consensus at this time.

Algore says it was global warming.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Like most things worth paying attention to, it is a very complicated question. One thing is pretty clear though, they never really totally abandoned Mesa Verde until the wet spells in our medieval period were over, what some scientists call "The Little Ice Age." And each time when the rain came back, so did at least some of the people, until it stopped coming back.

Many unknowns about these people, but more facts emerge with each study. Unfortunately, more facts don't necessarily make the picture clearer....

An archeologist named Brian Fagan wrote a book about Mesa Verde that seems to me to be one of the more sensible overviews--at least he admits it when nobody knows the answers!

 

[gramps]

One theory is human sacrifice and cannibalism.
gramps

 

[Don Lovel]

I got an opportunity to crawl about every square inch of Mesa Verde with my Boy Scout troop in 1965. The Ranger assigned to us was a Boy Scout himself and he took us to see all the coolest palces. One that impressed me was an old grain silo that still had seeds and pinion nut remnants in it

 

[powder smoke]

Very Nice got to get out there someday. ps

 

[The Blackhawk Kid]

Great pics! Great day of fun and awe. I've been there several times and the place still feels mysterious.

 

[96/44]

Nice pictures, I have yet to get to that part of the country.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Another book related to Mesa Verde and the "disappearance" of the Ancestral Pueblos that I thoroughly enjoyed was "The House of Rain."

Most of the scientists who've studied this issue recently seem to more-or-less agree that the people of Mesa Verde and vicinity just moved to wetter places, in some cases moving in with distant clan relatives. Some of the clans of the existing present-day Pueblos claim kinship with those people.

And the various "moves" were not without strife--lots of signs of conflict including some cannibalism proven by DNA matching of "remains" (let's don't go there!). But cannibalism was pretty clearly related to intergroup warfare and not a normal practice. Mostly for magic, not calories (although I'm sure extra calories were ALWAYS welcome in that area!).

 

[Don Lovel]

Bandelier Nat'l Monument in New Mexico is another cliff dwelling well worth visiting. Truly one of the prettiest canyons I have ever been in, I can see how with the mule deer, elk & small game, warm climate for gardening, it could have been a real paradise to dwell in
http://www.nps.gov/band/historyculture/ancestral-pueblo-people.htm