We started out the day exploring the sites at Kelly Place:
in-ground kivas in various stages of excavation, two of which had been fitted
out for visitors to explore, cliff storage, and the remains of some small
pueblos. There were also sites where the settlers of the late 1800s had set up
shop, even using some of the old pueblo walls as the foundations for their own
buildings.
An example of pueblo-style architecture - still in the open,
before the Ancestral Puebloans moved to the cliffs
(though there was an early in-cliff granary on the site,
so they must have been starting to think about it).
This kiva was redecorated in traditional style.
Next it was off to Mesa Verde—no
time for a tour of a ruin (the one we might have seen is closed because of the
potential for falling rock), but Areg and I agreed by the end of our visit that
doing the mesa-top loop road, which is set up to guide visitors through the
Ancestral Puebloan’s architectural development and provide views of all the
major cliff dwellings, was a much better experience than getting tantalizingly
close to ruins on a tour without being allowed to go inside them.
The last time I visited Mesa Verde, a wildfire had just swept
through and burnt this whole hilltop. It's green again,
but I was surprised that it hadn't grown back more. Guess
that's deserts for you--the east has spoiled me!
Okay, I didn't scale this photo down like I did all the others,
so if you open it in a new tab you should be able to see the
tiny little people down there doing restoration work. Pretty cool!
Areg was wishing all day that he'd brought his binoculars on the trip,
but especially at this overlook.
This place sparked my imagination as a child and still stirs
my spirit of adventure as an adult. But then, don't always act
like an adult. For instance, I'd totally call top "bunk" if I lived here.
We had fun
discussing the mysteries of why the Ancestral Puebloans had chosen to move down
onto the cliffs and then, not very long after, leave the area entirely, with
Areg arguing for aggressive neighbors and me putting most of the blame on a
drought.
Next it was up, up, up the mountain—time to head high into
the Rockies on our way to the mile-high city. What better way to do it than on Route 550, known as the "million dollar highway"?We played Areg’s epic music on
the way, a perfect accompaniment to the steep sides where the now-familiar
smooth red sandstone gave way to jagged mountain ridges.
Mugging with the mountain.
It's a bit hard to see in the lighting, but there's some
old mining construction down at the bottom of the picture.
If you look closely, you can see that this waterfall
runs down over the petrified ripples from what was once
the bottom of an ocean.
I spotted a whole
bunch of old mines along the way and we stopped at one old major quarry, as
well as taking a rest in Ouray, a lovely mining boom town that had managed to
survive on tourism after the ore lost its pull. Another place I would have
liked to stay, to take in the architecture (mostly) of the gold rush era and
perhaps do a mine tour. Say it with me: oh well.
The old courthouse in Ouray.
A very tall waterfall...and you can see right through that
metal deck below us! Not for those with a fear of heights.
We pose with the mountains we conquered.
By the end of the day, we came down from the hills into
Montrose for the night.
[I will finish posting these soon, darn it! It's almost a month now since we got back...]
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