Mesa Verde to Chaco Canyon

Since we knew our visit to Chaco Canyon the next day would involve a lot of driving, we wanted to get to our next destination, Farmington, New Mexico, fairly early in the day. But we wanted to explore another section of Mesa Verde before we left. So after one last breakfast overlooking the panorama to the south, we did a quick drive to the Far View Sites. We had driven by this area several times in the previous two days without notice, but had seen references to them in he park brochure. Upon searching for the turnoff, we discovered why we had overlooked them before... there is no signage to indicate the turn. Perhaps this is one reason the site was practically deserted. But what a spectacular surprise. This was a huge complex with 3 large buildings housing about 400 occupants, a crumbled tower, and a large round stone-lined reservoir covering around 3 acres. One of the buildings was not blocked off, so we could actually get into the ruin to explore some of the passageways and rooms. This was basically like the condo of its day: tiny living spaces grouped around a central courtyard containing several kivas. And we do mean tiny spaces, since most of the rooms for an entire family cover about the same space as two sheets of plywood. The three large buildings were placed to align with celestial points and solstice points, and all the entrances faced south, with one building featuring a large stone inscribed with a spiral pattern.

Note the spiral on the rock at left

The reservoir was particularly fascinating, with fine stonework surrounding it and lining the inside, and channels to direct water flow into and out of the reservoir. We loved being able to examine these ruins more closely.

Speaking of "ruins"' we should explain that the descendants of the people who live here do not consider these structures to be abandoned. They feel they are still occupied by the spirits of their ancestors, so they are treated with great respect. This is why, when "modern" man began unearthing the buildings, they found them to have been unmolested and unharmed for many centuries, except by the elements. We found it amusing to think what our house would look like if we left it for 800 years. Certainly it would not fare as well as these structures.

After spending several hours here, we hit the road again.  We were delighted to have spent time at this relatively unvisited portion of the park.

On our way out of Mesa Verde we took a few more photos...

On the way south, there was one photo we wished we had taken. Atop the building at the front of an auto wrecking yard was the overturned hulk of a car. Standing atop the car were two metal vultures, tearing chunks of vehicle out of the underside. Unfortunately there was no good place to stop and capture it, but it deserves a mention.

Our next distraction was Ship Rock, the towering formation just over the Colorado/New Mexico border. If you were fact-checking our blog, you would have found that we incorrectly identified a similar formation near Monument Valley as being Ship Rock. So we felt it was necessary to correct that boo-boo by getting close to the real thing. Besides, it is a REALLY cool geologic feature, the throat of an ancient volcano jutting nearly 1600 feet out of the desert floor. This sucker is huge...we had actually been able to see it while eating our meals at the Mesa Verde lodge about 75 miles away, so we went way out of our way to see it better. But despite traveling quite a detour to get a closer shot, we had to settle for one from a distance of about 20 miles. It is so massive, it appears to be much closer than that.

We arrived in Farmington to find it a surprisingly large small town, and checked into a remarkably comfortable room with very nice amenities. Having a bit of time to kill, we decided to drive 15 minutes to a nearby National Monument we had noted on the map, Aztec Ruins. (The site is not named such because the ruins are "Aztec"...it is because they are in a small town of that name). Here was another pleasant surprise, a huge Ancestral Pueblo house and the first Great Kiva we have seen. A Great Kiva is considerably larger than those we saw at Mesa Verde, with a vey different construction. This one was excavated and rebuilt back in the 1930's, and is sometimes used in ceremonies.

We explored the park and learned more about this fascinating culture, and then retired to our room for a splendid stir-fry dinner fixed by Colleen. Tomorrow we shall make the long drive to Chaco Canyon, which is considered the heart of this Puebloan culture.