Aztec Ruins (but no Aztecs) and Mesa Verde (with snow!) plus unexpected Hovenweep

 This month, we ticked another box on our bucket list (could I possibly include another cliche?) by spending three days at Mesa Verde. I have clear memories of visiting as a child, but it's Mike's first time. We splurged on the 700 Year guided van tour. What are we saving the money for? Our retirement? 😄

It's about a five hour drive from Albuquerque, which we split by stopping at Aztec Ruins National Monument. Before you ask, no, the Aztec were never this far north. Apparently, the Spaniards used the term "aztec" for all indigenous people. That also explains the number of "Montezumas" in this area. 

The inhabitants of this city, built around 1100 CE, were ancestors of today's Pueblo people. The style is Chacoan, and it's thought that this might have been intended to be another such central complex. It is one of the best preserved of its kind, and was even more impressive before white settlers started scavenging building materials for their own use. 

The ruins include numerous kivas, multi-story dwellings, and storage rooms. The wooden beams are still intact. A highlight is the reconstructed Great Kiva. It's now entered via a staircase, so even we oldsters with the dicky knees can enter. It's right next to an excavated kiva. Despite being a modern reconstruction, the kiva generates a mystic, sacred atmosphere. 

In this case, a picture really is worth a thousand words (ha! another cliche), so here are some I took. I hope that they encourage you to make a visit, even for an hour. There's a very nice picnic area on the grounds and a small museum, as well. 

View across the central plaza, reconstructed Great Kiva to the right 

Interior of the excavated kiva 

Interior  from another angle

T-shaped doorways lead from the central plaza into the dwellings; the other doorways are quite low and require stooping. Whether this was because the people were much shorter than we are or was to slow down invaders, who knows? Visitors are encouraged to walk through the buildings. 

View through a third-story window

The same window from ground level, with orange globe mallow

Another view across the central plaza from a different perspective. It should give you a sense of how massive this complex really is.

A visit to the gift shop and museum, lunch at the picnic grounds, and then it was off to Fair View Lodge at Mesa Verde. The final 15 miles are the worst -- and the slowest. Some people recommend staying outside of the Park and driving in every day. I am not one of them. Yes, the Lodge is a bit dated, but everything was clean, everything worked, and there was enough room to move around. For whatever reason, the rooms include a mini-fridge, but no microwave, so we took our own. Don't tell! We did avail ourselves of the Far View Terrace cafe for breakfast one morning and splurged a little on dinner one night at the Metate Room, but it was just much easier to microwave a breakfast sandwich most mornings. 

From our room, which was the regular kiva room, we could see across the parking area, beyond the mesa, to an unobstructed view of Ship Rock, some 60-70 miles away. According to the website, the "kiva deluxe" rooms are "deeper in the park" -- but if so, only by a matter of yards -- and have an "unobstructed view." We couldn't figure out which rooms those were, but they must be the ones that don't face the parking lot.  But all we had to do was look straight out, not down, to miss that. 

Monday morning we woke to rain which turn to sleet and then to snow! It had all melted before Mike's 700 Years bus tour that afternoon. I stayed at the Lodge with Treme and went on the tour the next morning, when it was Mike's turn to doggie sit. 

We both highly recommend the tour, if you can afford it. The tour guides are NAI-certified, provide accurate and interesting historical information and the price includes the a ranger-guided tour of Cliff Palace. While Cliff Palace is always the highlight, I was especially interested in the earlier ruins of pit houses. They were not what I thought they were at all. They are essentially split-level dwellings, dug about six feet into the surface, with a wooden structure built on that foundation. The fires of a few years ago uncovered hundreds of such pits, as well as the foundations of above-ground buildings. It's now known that the majority of inhabitants lived on the surface, not in cliff dwellings. That came much later, after many had migrated away from the area as the climate was becoming hotter and drier. 

One such ruin is known as Sun Temple. It is believed to have been a ceremonial site. We were allowed to walk through it. You can see the resemblance to some of the structures at Aztec Ruins. 

Another is the Badger House Community. It is was inhabited for centuries, with structures ranging from a pit house through to a pueblo house, as subsequent generations built on top of previous structures. 

I did not take many pictures for several reasons. First, the mediocre camera on my cell phone couldn't begin to do justice to the ruins or the vistas. Second, there are literally thousands of excellent photos available online, including on the NPS website. And, finally and most important, Mesa Verde is about being there. No photo can convey the wonder of it. The span of history -- before, during, and after. The testament to community -- people living literally on top of each other, separated by a single wall, sharing food and shelter and other resources. There is no evidence of war. None. 

Cliff Palace from the opposite rim. You can see why I decided not to bother with more photos. 

Ok, just one more. A small house on a ledge. Every structure in the canyon is not in an alcove. There are many such as this one. I like to imagine that they were built by introverts, who wanted to be part of the community, but needed their space. 

And, as a bonus, on Wednesday, we drove west into Utah to Hovenweep National Monument. We almost didn't go. I wasn't looking forward to the round trip drive through Mesa Verde -- and it was as bad as I remembered -- but ultimately, it was worth it.  Hovenweep is far bigger than we expected, with six separate sites (three in Colorado and three in Utah) and includes free-standing towers and dwellings, as well as cliff dwellings. I'd only seen photos of the one tower, I didn't get any photos because the entire area is open to dogs, so ... you can guess what I was doing! 🐕 She was tracking rodents from the moment we started on the trail. Next time, we'll stay in the area and spend two days. If you have 20 minutes, watch the orientation film https://www.nps.gov/hove/learn/photosmultimedia/orientation-film.htm

We came back with the determination to return and to stay longer. Two weeks after we got back, Mike had his second knee replacement. In a year, he'll be able to hike the trails and assist with dog control. 😁