November 2009

Balcony House and more

November 26, 2009

Mesa Verde’s Balcony House is a very memorable — and challenging — place to visit. It certainly isn’t for those who have a fear of heights or a problem with tight spaces. Those with health problems that prevent strenuous activity should not attempt this tour.

balcony-house-2

From the park website: The Balcony House tour requires visitors to descend a 100 foot staircase into the canyon; climb a 32 foot ladder; crawl through a 12 foot, 18 inches wide tunnel; and clamber up an additional 60 feet on ladders and stone steps.

balcony-house-4

The climb out:

balcony-house-6

Rain in Montezuma Valley:

showers

Tansy Aster against a ruin wall:

tansey_aster

Mesa Verde National Park, September 14, 2009

We had tickets for a 10 AM ranger guided tour of Balcony House. We had been to this ruin at least two other times before, the first in 1986, when we were in our mid-thirties.

To get into the ruin requires a bit of a climb, shown in the two views below and the one on the right, which exaggerates the steepness of the ladder because I had to rotate the image a little to get it all in.

balcony-house-1

balcony-house-3

Waiting to go through the small passage:

balcony-house-5

A hungry coyote zeros in on food — found on road:

hungry_coyote

Rabbitbrush with Sleeping Ute Mountain in the background:

park_point

.

.

Commentary and images from the road

image and information from September 14, 2009

This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Knife’s Edge

November 16, 2009

knifes_edge_trail-2

knifes_edge_trail-4

knifes_edge_trail-6

knifes_edge_trail-8

Commentary and images from the road

image and information from September 13, 2009

This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About

Mesa Verde National Park, September 12, 2009

In the evening, after supper, we took the Knife’s Edge Trail, a 2 mile round trip hike on part of the route of the original 1914 main access road into the park.

Click on any of the images to view a larger version.

knifes_edge_trail-1

knifes_edge_trail-3

knifes_edge_trail-5

knifes_edge_trail-7

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Cliff Palace

November 13, 2009

Cliff Palace is probably the best known of North American ruins. This was our third or fourth visit.

Click on any of the images
for a larger version.

The image below is from a photograph looking back up at the tour waiting area overlook.

cliff_palace-3

Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The Ancient Pueblo structure is located in Mesa Verde National Park, in the southwest corner of…Colorado, home to the Ancestral Puebloans people. (1)

cliff_palace-2

cliff_palace-6

(1) from Wikipedia

Commentary and images from the road

image and information from September 13, 2009

This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About

September 13, 2009 Mesa Verde National Park

Visits to the ruin are only by ranger guided tours. The view below is from the tour waiting area overlook.

cliff_palace-1

The next photo was taken from about the same location as the people on the right in the image above:

cliff_palace-4

Tree ring dating indicates that construction and refurbishing of Cliff Palace was continuous from c. AD 1190 through c. 1260, although the major portion of the building was done within a twenty-year time span. Cliff Palace was abandoned by 1300, and while debate remains as to the causes of this, some believe a series of mega-droughts interrupting food production systems is the main cause. (1)

cliff_palace-5

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Rattler!

November 9, 2009

Click on any of the images to view a larger version.

knifes_edge_trail2

Karen had stopped and was starting to slowly back up before I realized what we were hearing.

We both backed up a short distance. The rattler didn’t move and I got a snapshot of it.

rattler

Commentary and images from the road

image and information from September 13, 2009

This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About

September 13, 2009 – Mesa Verde National Park

We were hiking the Knife’s Edge Trail near the Mesa Verde campground, with Karen in the lead, reading from the trail guide booklet, while I was trailing behind taking pictures.

Suddenly, we heard a very characteristic sound, a sound we’ve heard many times in the movies and on TV.

Most of the trail was plenty wide, but, in this area it had started to narrow a bit.

rattlesnake

Of course, the rattlesnake blended in very well with the vegetation along the side of the trail. In the closeup crop on the right, I’ve outlined the head and tongue and added an arrow pointing to the rattle.

We didn’t turn around and go back down the trail. There was still a ways to go yet, so, from a safe distance, I started scuffing gravel and rocks toward the snake with my foot. After a little bit of that, it uncoiled and slithered into the brush, still rattling until it was a good ways off the trail.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

What was she thinking?

November 6, 2009

Click on any of the images to view a larger version.

What was she thinking?

footwear-2

footwear-3

exit-2

Commentary and images from the road

image and information from September 13, 2009

This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About

Mesa Verde National Park, September 13, 2009

I figure she was just thinking about seeing the cliff dwellings up close and personal.

It was obvious, though, to us, that she’s not a regular on trails.

The shoulder bag is a dead giveaway.

Generally, the only places we ever see women with purses on trails are relatively short trails that go to gotta-see sights.

Cliff Palace, cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde National Park

Cliff Palace is certainly a gotta-see, but really….

And the footwear.

Granted, we did see a lot of people wearing sandals and flip-flops, but, again, I doubt that many of them are out on trails of any kind on a regular basis — I think her flip-flops were to show off her pretty red toe-nails.

the way out

But the real question was the skirt.

I doubt that she was thinking about the climb up out of the canyon — or maybe didn’t know, until it was too late.

The way out was very steep — and included near-vertical ladders.

___________

The image on the right was taken from across the canyon. I processed it on my computer to lighten it so that the dark crack in the rocks where the exit climb was could be seen.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Into the Park

November 5, 2009

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado — September 12, 2009

We arrived at Mesa Verde early enough to relax for a while before heading further into the park.

(click on any of the following photos to view a larger image.)

mesa_verde-3

View of the sky over Mesa Verde National Park

mesa_verde-5

It’s a mother-in-law warning device! (see previous post on it.) from display at Far View Visitor Center

spruce tree house trail

Spruce Tree House was constructed between AD 1211 and 1278 by the ancestors of the Puebloan peoples of the Southwest. The dwelling contains about 130 rooms and 8 kivas (kee-vahs), or ceremonial chambers, built into a natural cave measuring 216 feet (66 meters) at greatest width and 89 feet (27 meters) at its greatest depth. It is thought to have been home for about 80 people.

mesa verde sky

knife's edge

Knife’s Edge, location of the old pre-1950s harrowing route into the park.
fire evidence at mesa verde

Evidence of past wild fires can be seen throughout the park, some quite recent.

Spruce Tree House

Spruce Tree House is the third largest cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde. Unlike other cliff dwellings in the parks, Spruce Tree House can be accessed without a ranger guided tour, though rangers will be on duty at the ruin when the trail is open.

Spruce Tree House

Spruce Tree House was opened for visitation following excavation by Dr. Jesse Walter Fewkes of the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Fewkes removed the debris of fallen walls and roofs and stabilized the remaining walls.

It was discovered in 1888 by two local ranchers searching for stray cattle.

__________________________________

Commentary and images from the road

image and information from September 12, 2009

This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About

Spruce Tree House information is from National Park Service web page — Spruce Tree House

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

On to Mesa Verde

November 3, 2009

After Ouray, we headed a couple of hours away to Mesa Verde National Park, where we planned to stay four nights at the Morefield Campground. Karen took some pictures on the way over. The few I took didn't turn out. (From notes on the road 9/12/2009)

Clicking on the any following images will open a larger copy of the photo.

on the way to Mesa Verde

on the way to Mesa Verde

__________________________________

Commentary and images from the road

image and information from September 12, 2009

This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Black Canyon of the Gunnison, North Rim

November 2, 2009

Ouray, Colorado — September 11, 2009

We decided to get away from the almost daily mountain showers and take a day trip to the less visited northern rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, one of the newest of our national parks.

(click on any of the following photos to view a larger image.)

black canyon of the gunnison north rim

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is very deep and narrow.

black canyon of the gunnison - north rim

The fast flowing Gunnison River loses more elevation in 48 miles than the 1500 mile Mississippi River does from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.

black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-north-rim-1

For a sense of the scale of this canyon, the arrow in the image above is pointing to the national park visitor center across the canyon on the south rim. The inset image is a blow-up of the building from the original of this image.

needle rock across crawford reservoir

Needle Rock from across Crawford Reservoir on the way to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.

black canyon of the gunnison - north rim

Just as on the south rim, there are a number of overlooks, as well as a campground, though the campground on the north side of the park is significantly more primitive.

black canyon of the gunnison - north rim

The sky over the canyon was awesome.

black canyon of the gunnison - north rim

It was a 227 mile day trip, much of it over twisting and turning mountain roads. While the road inside the park is a good paved road, the county Black Canyon road between the state highway and the park is graded and graveled.

After a long day of driving and sightseeing, we stopped for pizza in Montrose.

__________________________________

Commentary and images from the road

image and information from September 11, 2009

This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Finally dry!!! and NEW pictures

November 1, 2009

After weeks of mostly wet weather, Halloween was dry — and we took a short road trip and hike.

Our first stop was at the Russellville, Arkansas, Downtown Fall Festival. Unfortunately, my camera’s white balance was set to compensate for inside lighting and I forgot to change it to auto white balance. So the composite images, even after post processing, are somewhat surreal, especially considering the holiday and all.

As always, click on any of the following to view a larger image

halloween-2009-festival-2

halloween-2009-festival

.

Our next stop was Petit Jean State Park. One of our favorite hikes is to Cedar Falls, the highest water fall in Arkansas — and the most photographed.

We figured that, with the recent wet weather, and rainfall totals way above normal, the falls should be pretty spectacular — and we were right. We’ve been taking this short, but arduous hike, periodically since 1980. We’ve never seen Cedar Creek with this much water in it.

cedar_falls_2009-2

cedar_falls_2009-3

cedar_falls_2009

cedar_falls_2009-4

__________________________________

Road trip commentary and images

November 1, 2009

This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About

{ Comments on this entry are closed }