Stanley Hotel Lobby, September 5, 2009, Estes Park, Colorado
Gallery: Estes Park and then up to Trail Ridge – September 5, 2009
See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.
Enos A. Mills – Father of Rocky Mountain National Park,
Bronze statue, Estes Park, 2009
Labor Day Arts and Crafts festival, a traditional Labor Day Weekend event in Bond Park
Gallery: Estes Park and then up to Trail Ridge – September 5, 2009
See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.
Continue reading about Father of Rocky Mountain National Park
Also known as red squirrels, chickarees are especially fond of pine seeds. To get at the seed, the cones are pried open, leaving a pile of debris that can be up to 3 feet across. Whole cones are stashed in middens for winter use, Often, several generations will add to the same midden over a period of 20 years or more.
Typically, a chickaree will be heard before it’s seen, making a loud rackety call when an intruder enters its territory.
Bear Lake Trail, September 3, 2009
Rocky Mountain National Park
Gallery: Bear Lake and Emerald Lake Trails – September 3, 2009
See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.
A painting-like rendering by Paint Shop Pro (click on image for larger version)
A close up of part of the image:
Inside the Trail Ridge gift shop, Rocky Mountain National Park
Gallery: Estes Park and then up to Trail Ridge – September 5, 2009
See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.
September 1, 2009 – From the slope of the terminal moraine, looking up the valley of Moraine Park in Rocky Mountain National Park. The smoke is from fires burning in California. The building in the foreground is the Moraine Park Visitor Center. We were on a ranger guided walk on a short nature trail at the visitor center, which also has a few museum area inside.
Gallery: Eastern slopes – September 1, 2009
See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.
I’ve finally gotten around to completing the photo galleries from Rocky Mountain National Park and the Estes Park area. There is one gallery for each day, to keep the galleries from being too large.
The two newest galleries are Moraine Park Elk and Estes Park area and Fern Lake Trail.
Below is the full listing as it appears on the Haw Creek Image Galleries page:
Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park
- Arrival – August 31, 2009
- Eastern slopes – September 1, 2009
- Fall River and Trail Ridge – September 2, 2009
- Bear Lake and Emerald Lake Trails – September 3, 2009
- Moraine Park Elk and Estes Park area – September 4, 2009
- Fern Lake Trail – September 5, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78, Haw Creek and Haw Creek Out ‘n About
Continue reading about Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park photo galleries
September 15, 2009 – Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
On our last full day in Colorado, we toured the six-mile Mesa Top Loop Drive, visiting most of the archeological exhibits and overlooks.
Square Tower House cliff dwelling is named for the four-story-high structure standing against the curved back wall of the alcove. About 60 of the original 80 rooms of Square Tower House remain.
All of the cliff dwellings, including Square Tower House, were part of the final Mesa Verde building phase. People lived here between AD 1200 and 1300.
Small lizard on a ruin wall
After spending the morning among the ruins, we took a drive in the afternoon. At one point, we found ourselves on open range, with the road blocked by a herd of horses. As I very slowly eased the car forward, the horses parted and let us through.
Commentary and images from the road
image and information from September 15, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About
Pithouse – For thousands of years, native peoples were living in the surrounding areas before coming to Mesa Verde. As with people all over the Southwest, Ancestral Puebloans lived in modest dwellings — shallow pits dug into the ground, covered with pole and mud roofs and walls, with entrances through the roofs.
In this excavation (above), what appears to be one pithouse is actually two. The larger one, built first, around AD 700, was destroyed by fire. The smaller one, which looks like an antechamber to a larger room, is actually a second pithouse built soon after the first one burned. It contains a new feature, a verticle ventilator shaft in one side, which appears in pithouses from then on — innovation!
Above is an Ancestral Puebloan kiva – an undeground religious room. The small circular hole in the floor is a sipapu, a symbolic entrance into the underworld – the Pueblo place of origin. This early kiva design was continued in the Mesa Verde villages and cliff dwellings.
Many fires have swept across Mesa Verde over time. Recent fires have exposed previously undiscovered Puebloan sites.
At our campsite on our final afternoon in
Colorado, 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.
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.
The climb out:
Rain in Montezuma Valley:
Tansy Aster against a ruin wall:
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.
Waiting to go through the small passage:
A hungry coyote zeros in on food — found on road:
Rabbitbrush with Sleeping Ute Mountain in the background:
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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
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 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)
(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.
The next photo was taken from about the same location as the people on the right in the image above:
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)
Click on any of the images to view a larger version.
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.
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.
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.
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