August 31, Part 1: The Cliff-hanger

We knew we could beat the crowds if we got our tickets to tour Cliff Palace and Balcony House on Friday--our 44th anniversary.

These are the most popular sites and are located on Chapin Mesa, the main drag.  It was up this canyon floor

that Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason first viewed Cliff Palace and surroundings in December, 1888.  (However, brother Al had spotted it a year earlier but was too tired to actually climb the canyon wall and enter Cliff Palace--to his eternal regret.)  It was not snowing, Willa Cather and mythology to the contrary.

What they would have seen was Sun Temple on the promontory in the middle of this photo

with Cliff Palace and Balcony House on the right and several dozen cliff dwellings along the walls of the intersecting canyons.  (More on the Wetherills and American archeology later.)

Archeologist Jesse Fewkes "stabilized" Cliff Palace 30 years later and gave us, pretty much, what we see today.

Along with Long House, it is the largest Mesa Verde cliff-dwelling with 150 or so rooms and 20-22 kivas.  Archaeologists no longer think it was just a residential community, but played some sort of special ceremonial role.  The "Sun Temple" on the promontory across from Cliff Palace suggests that this was a location of great importance.

The towers reached 4 stories high and would have been very imposing.

Being in such a place, gives one a great sense of humility.  One is standing where ancients worked and worshipped.  In fact, if you look carefully, you can see--in the mortar holding the stones together--the finger marks of the men (and boys?) who built these structures for their families and clans.  You can touch their fingerprints!

You can touch the manos and metates where the women worked together every day grinding maize.

 

You can see where the builders incorporated the cave walls and boulders into their buildings.

Even Frank Lloyd Wright might be proud of the design elements involved in planning such a series of interlocking buildings connected to the landscape of alcoves and sandstone crevices.  If not, surely he would be proud to have the homes he designed last for another 800 years in the face of harsh winters and summer storms.

Too bad it is all in danger, according to Ranger Jim at Long House.  Human traffic, from sonic booms of jets to RV's, and water run-off from toilets and parking lots

are undermining the foundations of Cliff Palace.  The Park Service does not know how to stop the erosion short of closing the entire area to the public.  What lasted 800 years of seasonal distress may collapse from a century of human admiration and fascination.

On to Balcony House, located high in the cliffs downstream from Cliff Palace.

It was a much smaller community and clearly built for defensive reasons, as protection against raiders and intruders.

No one knows its relationship to the Cliff Palace community.

But entering Balcony House remains a challenge.

Early female visitors had to climb trees and then swing on a rope into the alcove.  Great fun; at 1500 feet above the canyon floor.  Things are slightly easier today.  Still, we listened to ranger after ranger begin her/his introduction to expectant visitors by trying to convince them not to go.  Afraid of heights?  Don't go.  Afraid of climbing a 30 foot ladder over a precipice?

Don't go.  Claustrophobic?  Don't go, because you will have to squeeze through a 12 foot tunnel that is only 18 inches or so wide.

Going because of social pressure?  Don't go.

So we went, as did everyone else.

But we wondered why there wasn't a width gate that visitors had to show they could pass through, like the height gates at amusement parks.  Being claustrophobic, my fear was not going through the tunnel, but getting stuck between two ladies who had not listened to the ranger.  My dilemma:  should I let Janet go in front or behind me.  She would have no problem.  Except on the ladder climb up and out of Balcony House.

How did the bikers fare, I had to wonder.

Inside the Balcony House, room was tight.  I could see the appeal to Americans in the 1920s of climbing onto the balcony and putting on dramatic performances.

Which they did until the Park Service wised up.  But how did they keep their kids from going over the edge?

Maybe they didn't or maybe they had more obedient kids.

Oh yes, we debated going into Cortez for our anniversary dinner.  We opted for the restaurant in the park.  It was a good decision as we got a window table overlooking Soda Canyon.  Service was great and the Cuesta-Mex menu excellent, including the wild boar appetizing.  Wild Boar is overrated.  But the Elk-Green Chile Shepherd's Pie was great.  And it came with Dove Creek pinto beans.