- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Well, my wife had 2 weeks off for Spring Break and we wanted to head to Baja but it just wasn't in the cards. Instead we decided to stay 'local' and visit some amazing Anasazi Ruins and amazing canyons around the Four Corners area. Our plan was to make a big loop and visit Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, Canyon De Chelly and the Goosenecks in Utah. We loaded up the Land Cruiser and headed South on a chilly Sunday morning, ready to learn more about the people that built amazing structures, then mysteriously vanished in short order.
On the way to Mesa Verde we stopped at the Anasazi Heritage Center in Dolores, CO. It was an excellent museum with thousands of artifacts, pieces of recovered pottery, weapons & tools, etc. It was truly impressive & I'm glad we stopped. The most interesting thing I learned was the size of the Anasazi and a life size depiction of a family... on average they were between 4' 7" and 5' 4". They were tiny! I didn't take many photos, so I'll say it's a place you need to see for yourself.
Just a couple pics of uncovered artifacts...
After we left the Anasazi Heritage Center, the winds were howling and a massive wall of dust headed our way. We were going to head to Hovenweep, but the storm was coming from that direction and it looked nasty... one of those desert wind storms that comes around once a year or so. We stopped and explored some very dilapidated ruins at the Sand Trail Pueblo in the Canyons of the Ancients and the storm moved in while we were hiking around. We got sand blasted and decided it was time to head for shelter. We were planning to stay in the RTT and cook our dinner on the tailgate of the Cruiser, but thought it would be difficult at best. Upon arriving at the campground we saw some camping cabins and figured it was in our best interest to upgrade from the tent to the cabin. Dinner was great... and sand-free! And we slept well in the cabin while the winds howled outside.
The next morning we headed into Mesa Verde... we were disappointed to learn that 1/2 the park and ruins were still closed, due to it being the off season. :wtf: Oh well... we made the best of what we could see. It was impressive, some great feats of engineering and construction. The Anasazi didn't have horses to help with construction, so all timbers & stones were moved and placed by hand. They built their houses in the cliffs and overhangs for protection from the sun, weather and their enemies. Another interesting thing we learned was that the average life span of the ancestral Puebloans was 32 years... and by that age, their teeth were so far worn down, due to the rock dust that was a result of grinding corn down into Maize. Many died of disease, malnutrition and warfare. We learned about Kivas (the round holes in the ground) and how they are special places of worship, that the 'windows' in the buildings were actually door ways (small people!), and how they worked together as families and built their homes in order to support each other.
On the way to Mesa Verde we stopped at the Anasazi Heritage Center in Dolores, CO. It was an excellent museum with thousands of artifacts, pieces of recovered pottery, weapons & tools, etc. It was truly impressive & I'm glad we stopped. The most interesting thing I learned was the size of the Anasazi and a life size depiction of a family... on average they were between 4' 7" and 5' 4". They were tiny! I didn't take many photos, so I'll say it's a place you need to see for yourself.
Just a couple pics of uncovered artifacts...
After we left the Anasazi Heritage Center, the winds were howling and a massive wall of dust headed our way. We were going to head to Hovenweep, but the storm was coming from that direction and it looked nasty... one of those desert wind storms that comes around once a year or so. We stopped and explored some very dilapidated ruins at the Sand Trail Pueblo in the Canyons of the Ancients and the storm moved in while we were hiking around. We got sand blasted and decided it was time to head for shelter. We were planning to stay in the RTT and cook our dinner on the tailgate of the Cruiser, but thought it would be difficult at best. Upon arriving at the campground we saw some camping cabins and figured it was in our best interest to upgrade from the tent to the cabin. Dinner was great... and sand-free! And we slept well in the cabin while the winds howled outside.
The next morning we headed into Mesa Verde... we were disappointed to learn that 1/2 the park and ruins were still closed, due to it being the off season. :wtf: Oh well... we made the best of what we could see. It was impressive, some great feats of engineering and construction. The Anasazi didn't have horses to help with construction, so all timbers & stones were moved and placed by hand. They built their houses in the cliffs and overhangs for protection from the sun, weather and their enemies. Another interesting thing we learned was that the average life span of the ancestral Puebloans was 32 years... and by that age, their teeth were so far worn down, due to the rock dust that was a result of grinding corn down into Maize. Many died of disease, malnutrition and warfare.
We learned about Kivas (the round holes in the ground) and how they are special places of worship, that the 'windows' in the buildings were actually door ways (small people!), and how they worked together as families and built their homes in order to support each other.
