From our campsite at Blue Mountain RV Park, we headed south on 191 and then west on 95 to Natural Bridges National Monument.

This was the first National Park area in Utah.  It was discovered in 1883 by a man named Cass Hite.  he had a mining claim on the Colorado River and wandered into Stone Canyon and discovered three monolithic bridges.  To this day, nowhere else in the world are there so many bridges in the same area.

Millions of years after the lifting of the Colorado Plateau, glacial melt from the end of the last ice age and abundant rains brought massive flooding that provided the power to carve the canyons in the southwest.

As the rushing waters meandered through the canyon, water worked against the banks of the bends in a way that broke through, cutting off the bend and creating a shortcut that is a bridge.

This is Sipapu, the first of the three bridges in the park.  Sipapu means “the place of emergence” in Hopi language.

Sipapu, close up.  It is 220′ high and 268′ wide.

And this is Sipapu from a different angle.  There is a 9 mile park road that takes you to different vantage points throughout the park.  There are also walking trails that take you under the bridges.

Kachina is the second bridge.

Kachina is 210′ high and 204′ wide.

The third is Owachomo, which is Hopi for “rock mound”.  It is 106′ high and 180′ wide.

Bridges differ from arches.  Bridges are formed from water and arches by wind and sand. 

Natural Bridges National Monument has an Ancestral Puebloan settlement named Horsecollar Ruin.  It was inhabited between 1050 and 1300 AD. 

To the right is a double chambered storage area or granarie.  The doors are horse collar shaped, thus the name.  There is a square kiva in the center, which is associated with the Kayenta area of northern Arizona.

Although not visible (covered with earth), there is a round kiva here.  Round kivas are associated with the Mesa Verde area.

 In order to see this site, you have to walk a .3 mile trail.

 The trail is well maintained but can be tricky for those who may become unsteady on their feet.

We had a fun day.  Here are a few pictures of the park.

To get to the Holly group, we entered Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.

Even reading the map at the kiosk, it was hard to figure out what was what.  I could only assume there was an overlap.

We took a bumpy dirt road.  We began to wonder if we were lost.

 But then Angie spotted something out the window.

So we knew we were close.

Then a sign confirmed we were on the right track.

It was a really a great trail out to and along the rim of Keeley Canyon.  Probably .3 mile long, not far at all.  The views as you came around a bend and the structures appeared out of the landscape was just an amazing experience of discovery and awe.

This house actually split in half as the ground beneath the boulder washed away and the boulder shifted, spilling much of the walls and the upper levels into the canyon.  It is aptly named Tilted Tower. 

Look at this amazing tower.  Look how it is built so perfectly into the boulder upon which it rests.  It stands beside a spring and was built from the inside.  Handholds were pecked into the boulder base for access and entry.  It is called Boulder House.

The group is named for James Holley who was a rancher in the area in the late 1800’s.

The way these structures were positioned near water showed how important water was to them, providing life for their crops and for themselves.  They were protecting it and praying for it to continue to flow.

But it didn’t flow.  During a 23 year regional drought, the occupants of this canyon left around 1300 AD.  These buildings have weathered for seven centuries here in the high desert.

Then the trail became Petroglyph Trail and it ended on a boulder.  We looked and looked until we spotted a sign.

Staining made many of these rock art symbols hard to detect, but we could tell there was more there than our eyes could see.

One of our friends told us that these symbols were supposed to tell who they were, what they were doing, and why they left.

Petroglyphs were carefully pecked and scratched into the rock using stone tools.  They used a hard hammerstone or a pecking stone and sometimes antler in a hammer and chisel method. 

One cannot help to wonder what they were trying to tell us.

So we took the trail back.  It was a little uneven and rocky but so worth it.

What’s amazing is that even after centuries, we come to view the remainder of their labors and connect with the essence of who they were… and after so long, we can.

We’re in Blanding, Utah at one our favorite stops, Blue Mountain RV Park.  Duke and Rose in the office that is also the Trading Post are quite the pair and are fun to deal with.  Gary is great and takes care of the park and also gives tours of all the wonderful things to see in the four corners area.  They have some beautiful Dinosaur Bone, Coprolite and Turquoise for sale as well as some incredible Native American jewelry.

While here, we went to see Hovenweep National Monument.  Anyone visiting the National Parks needs to know that our country’s National Monuments are nothing to sneeze at.  While not a full scale National Park, they are still well worth seeing.

Hovenweep consists of six clusters of Pueblo buildings scattered around the canyons of the Cajon Mesa of the Great Sage Plain.  The settlements are: Square Tower, Holly, Hackberry, Horseshoe, Cutthroat Castle, and Cajon.  Most settlements are based around ancient springs that they dammed to control the water.  Some of these settlements are in the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument territory.  We went to two of the Hovenweep sites.  It was a little confusing to find the second site.  Signage was spotty and the only thing we had to go by was verbal directions from the Ranger at the Visitor Center.  Even with the navigational challenges, these sites are well worth seeing.

There is a campground there with no hookups that can accommodate rigs up to 35 feet long.

The trail runs along the rim and is 1.5 miles long.  It is a good trail but can be a little uneven.  As we approached the rim of Little Ruin Canyon, we saw the twin towers.

The buildings here were constructed between 1230 to 1275 AD, about the same time as Mesa Verde.  The inhabitants came here from Chaco Canyon.  These towers are among the most carefully constructed buildings in the southwest.  One is oval and the other is horseshoe shaped and there are sixteen rooms total.

This is Stronghold House because it looks like a fortress.  Entry was by way of climbing a series of toeholds chipped into the rock or by climbing a wooden ladder.

This is Boulder House, named so because the building was incorporated into the huge boulder.

I think this is my favorite because it reminds me of a gnome house.  😉

Angie wanted to go play in it.

This is Tower Point and it has a complete view all the way up and down the canyon.  Some of the rooms in the tower were used to store food from the crops they grew.

There were about 100 to 150 people at this settlement.

Some people wonder whether they built fortress like buildings for protection.  Researchers think that at first they weren’t.

For many years after they arrived, this community thrived on the flow of water from the spring with this check dam.

But soon a 23 year drought struck the four corners area and food became scarce.  Neighboring tribes may have been forced to seek out food from neighbors and not necessarily in a kind way.

The lack of ground level doors, massive walls, portholes and high vantage points as well as protected springs all support the theory that this community was built with defense in mind.

By 1350 AD the community was abandoned.  It is thought they migrated to the Hopi Mesas of Arizona and to the Rio Grande Puebloan area of New Mexico.

Next we’ll see the Holly House site.

Here’s the video. Enjoy!

 Author’s Note on Chaco Canyon:
When you visit these Ancient Puebloan sites, particularly those run by the NPS or State Parks, you will get a politically correct version of what is known about the site and the history.  I feel my presentation would be incomplete without mentioning the fact that there is evidence of a very politically incorrect aspect of these sites.  I am attaching a link to another blog that I feel gives the research in a comprehensive manner.

Warning:  This information may blow away anyone’s romanticized version of the Chacoan lifestyle.  Some of the information may be shocking.

http://gamblershouse.wordpress.com/2011/01/28/the-cannibalism-collection/

As we followed the loop road to the other side of the canyon, there were several other settlements to explore.

Then we came to where the second Chacoan Stairway was.

Without the help of a sign showing us where it is, we might have missed it.

The bottom had fallen away.

But luckily I was able to zoom in on it.  Like the first stairway on the other side of the canyon behind Hungo Pavi (see blogpost here), these steps were carved into the canyon wall by these ingenious people in order to climb up to the top of the mesa to the elaborate road system that connected all outer settlements with this place.

As we passed the Visitor’s Center and began to exit the canyon, there was one more thing to see that was very exciting.

This is Fajada Butte.  It is a huge outstanding landform layered with the Menefee Formation on the bottom and Cliff House Sandstone on the top.  It is a sacred place for the Pueblo, Hopi and Navajo people.  It is part of their stories of history and migration and their ongoing tradition.

Chacoan Astronomers called Skywatchers used this site to calculate important times of the year.

 Sunlight shining through three boulder slabs would cast a dagger-like ray onto a petroglyph on the rock wall behind.

The point where the ray hit on the petroglyph allowed the Chacoan Skywatchers to calculate important days for planting crops and holding ceremonies.

And so we took the road out of Chaco Canyon and Chaco Culture National Historic Park, taking new enlightenment with us.  There are many, many theories about what transpired here both on a spiritual level and a practical one.

If you would like to become a supporter of Chaco Canyon, and learn more about what goes on here today as well as yesterday, the Friends of Chaco website is here.  The NPS web page is here.

In the 1849 military expedition, Lt. James Simpson’s guide Carrahaval named this area of Chaco Canyon, Pueblo Bonito, meaning beautiful town.  This is what the beautiful town would have looked like at the time of its full occupation.

This is a diagram of the settlement.  It had 15 Great Kivas and over 30 other Kivas and about 800 rooms.  111 jars were found here.

As we approached the beautiful town, we felt a great sense of peace here.

As we came closer, I noticed that something big had happened to the structure.

In 194, following a year of especially heavy rain, a detached portion of the wall, separated by a wall crack fell and destroyed 30 rooms.  The rock that fell was called Threatening Rock and even though they knew the rock was threatening to fall, they chose this site for Pueblo Bonito.  They put prayer sticks in the crack and built a supporting masonry structure below it.  The Navajo name for Pueblo Bonito means “rock that braces and supports the structure from below”.

Threatening rock looked like this one, only this one is a quarter of the size. 

These pueblo great houses were three stories tall and were built in several stages between 850 and 1150 AD.  Careful and intricate planning had to take place to accomplish it.

The core and veneer masonry walls were made wider at the bottom to accommodate the height of the walls and the weight they held up.  A core of roughly shaped stones in mortar with carefully shaped stones in mortar on either side.  

This diagram shows the different stages in which Pueblo Bonito was built.  The first at the bottom and the most recent on top.

Logs were used across the tops of windows and in the construction of roofs and additional floors.  Logs were harvested 40 to 60 miles away in the mountains, dried for a year and were then carried back for use in construction.  The ends were cut flat with stone tools.

Many wooden ends remain embedded in the walls to this day.

One room with original wood beams is open.  You can step inside the room and feel what it is like.  It was hot outside, but this room was very cool.  The larger wood beams are called vigas and the smaller are called latillas.

 Most of the doors between rooms look like this…

…but some look like this. Researchers are unsure why some are shaped this way, they could have special spiritual significance or just keep down the draft between rooms.

And then there are just a few corner doors.  It is believed that this served as an astronomical marker.  When the sun rises on the winter solstice, it shines on the wall opposite.  This helped in determining when to plant crops and in ceremonies.

The damage to this wall was done by looters who didn’t want to go through the maze of doors inside.

From the high point of the trail, you can see the massive size of the structure which covers two acres.

There were two major plazas, or open areas, where daily activities took place as well as trading, gatherings and public ceremonies.  Also… by the entrance of one of the plazas, the stump of a massive Ponderosa Pine Tree was discovered.  The tree may have been part of their ceremonies.

Great kivas could have fit hundreds of people.  They were highly standardized.  All had a low bench around the base of wall of the room.  A raised firebox and deflector in the center.  Four pits for posts that held up the roof.  An antechamber and entryway and some have wall niches or repositories for offerings and sacred objects.  There is a hole in the ground called a sipapu that has special spiritual significance.

On top of the masonry walls, an interlaced domed wooden roof was created leaving a hole in the middle where the ladder would emerge for entrance and exit.  Then the rest of the roof would be filled in with masonry on top of the wooden dome to make a flat top with just the entrance and ladder showing.

To be here gives one a feeling of awe and peace.  A feeling of wonder of what once went on here.

Objects found buried with people here are worked shells, turquoise beads and pendants, conch shell trumpets, painted flutes, and other items. 

There were only 50 to 100 permanent residents here at Pueblo Bonito and 2-6,000 in Chaco Canyon as a whole.  It is believed that most were visitors that came together for ceremonial gatherings and trading.

Cylinder jars recently excavated here suggest that drinking chocolate was part of their rituals.

Measurements were precise.  The wall that runs through the central plaza is on a perfect north-south line.

Some of us might unknowingly use the term Anasazi for the people who lived here, but it is generally considered a culturally racist term, the correct name for the ancient ones who lived here is Ancestral Puebloans or Ancient Pueblo People.

The ancestors of the ancients who lived here are the Hopi, Zuni, Acoma, Zia, Laguna and the Navajo interacted with them here.

Stories of migrations from here have been handed down through families for generations.  It is thought they left because of changes in climate causing drought.

This plaque commemorates the work done by the National Geographic Society and the Smithsonian Institution to unearth Pueblo Bonito in the 1920s.

This place is a sacred site.  Their spirits still sing to the Earth and the Heavens.

And so we entered Chaco Canyon.  The Chaco period was a time with many diverse cultures came together for a period of time.  Those are Cliff House Sandstone cliffs behind the Hungo Pavi settlement.

The first ruins we came to on the loop road through Chaco Canyon was Hungo Pavi.  This is a diagram of the settlement.  It was named by a Mexican guide in a military expedition in 1849.  Archaeologists call this a great house.   Great houses were thought to be public buildings that housed pilgrims and travelers that came to Chaco to attend ceremonies, trading events and public gatherings.

The trail is about a 1/4 mile.  Construction began a thousand years ago.  Subsequent stages continued for 150 years.  The construction of the largest complex, Pueblo Bonito was well underway when this was started.

This is what it would have looked like in its prime.  Two wings, east and west with an open plaza, a small kiva and a great kiva.

 This is a cross section of a Chacoan Kiva.  Access was through a ladder would have stood from inside out the ventilation shaft.  The roof from the outside was flat with the hole and ladder protruding out the top.

This is a view across the plaza with both wings showing.  In the distance is Fajada Butte.

One masonry techniqu unique to Chacoan culture was core and veneer walls.  They quarried sandstone from the tops of the cliffs, ground them with water, added clay and sand for the mortar.

 This is a view of Hungo Pavi from the parking lot.  Hungo Pavi is to the left in front of the cliff wall.  Down the cliff wall is a Chacoan Stairway. 

This is a wide steep stairway carved into the cliff.  This connected the floor of the canyon to the top of the mesa where an elaborate road system connecting Chaco Canyon to the outer settlements in the Four Corners area.  There is another stairway carved into the opposite side of the canyon that we’ll see in a later post.

As we entered Chaco Canyon, we came upon the campground.  Rigs up to 35′ can be accommodated.  No hook-ups.  One word of caution though, that bumpy dirt road section of CR 7950 coming into the park could do some serious damage to your rig.  We found a good RV Park in Kirtland NM called Homstead RV Park, an hour away, with plenty of room and 50 AMP hook-ups.

That being said… what a cool campground!  There are several pueblo ruins right there in the campground.

There are no food services in the park, but a very nice picnic area at the Visitors Center awaits.  We packed our lunch in.  Just like most of the remote National Parks, it is a good idea to have extra food and water with you.  Cell phone service is spotty. 

There are two types of rock formations in the main part of the canyon.  Millions of years ago, this area was on the edge of a huge inland sea.  Rivers flowing to the sea brought materials from the land such as petrified wood, turtles and dinosaurs. This terrestrial based sediment is called the Menefee Formation (top two pics).  The other type is called the Cliff House Sandstone and it is made up of beach and sea life such as ammonites, clams, sea snails and sharks (bottom pics).

In the Visitor’s Center there is a model of a kiva.  Kivas were and are very important to Puebloan tribes.  They were usually down in the Earth, covered by a roof made from cross hatched wood called cribbed roofing and a mortar overlay made a flat roof (shown by a cutaway section of the model).  An access ladder protruded through a hole in the roof that was also used for ventilation.  Social and religious ceremonies and rituals were performed in Kivas.  Depending on the size of the community, there may be several Kivas.

The Puebloan Timeline shows how their history is organized.  They cover Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.  The tribes that evolved from the Ancient Puebloans are Hopi, Navajo, Taos, Acoma, Zuni and others.

Once we had a good familiarity with these aspects of Chaco culture, it was time to experience the canyon so we could learn more.

 The first aerial pictures of Chaco Canyon were taken by Charles Lindbergh’s wife Anne Morrow from their airplane as they flew over in 1929.

It was time for us to see it up close.

We took NM Route 64 east early this morning to NM 550 at Bloomington and headed south.  We were surprised to see that northeast New Mexico seems to have a booming oil drilling business.

 We crossed over the San Juan River.

To the east was Angel Peak.

 At Nageezi, we took CR 9700 and then CR 9750, which, has 13 miles of bumpy dirt road. 

Free range livestock roam here so I guess it was good that we could only go 5 mph tops.

These guys didn’t even notice us driving by until Angie barked at them.

Couldn’t tell you what she said to them, but it must’ve been quite the conversation.

We also passed a bunch of these guys, but Angie wasn’t talking.

Some awesome rock formations guided us to the canyon.

And then finally… after a teeth clattering ride, we saw the first signs of Chaco Canyon.

Can’t tell you how happy we were to see this sign…

Stay tuned– more on our trip to Chaco Canyon to come…

To celebrate National Parks Week, we visited Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Park today.  Our last visit was a couple years ago.  I’m going to repost my youtube videos of them (from our visit two years ago) here along with some pictures.