Mesa Verde in fall colors

We spent most of yesterday traveling to Mesa Verde, arriving about 3 PM. Today, we visited Wetherill Mesa. First, we went to Step House, so named because of the steps that lead down from the cliff to the house. This is an interesting location because there are actually two archaeological sites here. The first consists of several pit houses which were occupied by basket weavers from approximately 600 AD. The second is a masonry pueblo building from 1200 AD.

Step House Pit House with restored roof

In the afternoon, I joined a ranger guided hike to Long House. The ranger was quite entertaining. We had an older newlywed couple on the tour, and he asked them to plan their reception. What would they serve for hor d’ouevres, drinks, and a main course. The woman was quite good:                 hor d’ouevres was rabbit with prickly pear juice; the main course was deer with yucca fruit and corn as a side dish.  The village here is almost 300 feet long and includes about 150 rooms and 21 kivas. This appears to be a ceremonial site since it has a large central plaza with seats – a great kiva. Many of the original walls are still intact with the beams that support them. In the back of the cliff is a seeping spring, with collecting holes to dip for the water.

Long House

We then went to the Chapin museum for the park movie (which actually did a great job of talking about the ancient Indian tribes in most of the southwest) and their collection of artifacts. The displays were from the 1930’s, but had a good cross-section of artifacts – pots, tools, clothes, food, baskets, etc.

That night Mesa Verde had a star party! They invited in an amateur astronomer, who has given star parties at other nearby National Parks. They set up about six telescopes and everyone, got a chance to see Saturn (with their rings perpendicular to earth). Then he pointed out the various constellations in the sky and told an Ancient Pueblo, Navajo, and Roman legend relating to the constellations. While we were watching the sky, both the International Space Station and an Iridium satellite passed by. The satellite flashed brightly for a couple seconds when the solar panels reflected the sun to us. They finished up by pointing each of the telescopes to a different object in the sky: the Andromeda Galaxy, and several star clusters. It was a fun night.