today started with a loop trail to the step house pueblo, which was named because there were "prehistoric" stairs up the side (the stairs led up to a food storage area, and the park labeled them as prehistoric). i think using prehistoric to describe the stairs is not very accurate, unless you call all these pueblos prehistoric also...
the rock (sandstone) was so cool on the way down (in the shade). kendal even wanted to touch it!
nathaniel reading the trail guide as he walked by step house:
petroglyphs at step house:
view of step house from the upper houses (you can see me for scale):
metate at step house (note the corn cobs beside it):
cat scat!!! not quite as dramatic as the cat foot print we had next to our car when we went to anza borrego 2-1/2 years ago... but "cool" none-the-less! (on the trail up from step house pueblo.)
it may be hard to see in this photo, but they had "prehistoric" gutters on the cliffs above the pueblos (to channel water for use). we could see the gutter above the cliff where step house was located... can you see it?
all done with the trail!
after we finished this trail, i insisted we drive over to the museum (kendal and i checked the museam out the day before while nathaniel was taking his tour). this place was really cool, and i have TONS of pictures of the inside, but i'm not posting them here (just too much)! kendal thought he was our tour guide:
the museum was atop another pueblo trail which we did not need a ticket to tour. however, i was VERY tired and kendal seemed to be also, so we did not take the tour. instead, we just went to the overlook and took a picture!
we drove back to our campsite (in the shade) and kendal and i tried to nap while nathaniel took the point lookout trail. this was by far the most strenuous trail nathaniel completed through the entire vacation (thankfully without a baby on his back or a pregnant wife slowing him down). here are a couple of his photos and a video from that trail:
our campground from the point:
need i say more about THIS photo???
there were hundreds of pueblos in the park. so many that i can't even remember what they are all called! so, here are some random photos:
not sure what this is, but i thought it was cool because of the way the fingerprints (hand prints) of the makers are still preserved!
nathaniel and kendal standing on the mesa across from cliff palace (the tour he took yesterday):
here's kendal riding on my shoulders! nathaniel snapped this photo and i quickly said "please help me get him off!" yea... he was pulling my hair!
and to end our long long day in mesa verde, we saw a flock of turkey as we were driving off the mesa! (those of you who know my dad know that every spring he hunts turkey... thus far with no success! we knew he'd appreciate seeing these birds!) if you listen closely at the end of the video, you can here them (and kendal saying dadadada which is
most favorite thing in the world to say!)
the rock (sandstone) was so cool on the way down (in the shade). kendal even wanted to touch it!
nathaniel reading the trail guide as he walked by step house:
petroglyphs at step house:
view of step house from the upper houses (you can see me for scale):
metate at step house (note the corn cobs beside it):
cat scat!!! not quite as dramatic as the cat foot print we had next to our car when we went to anza borrego 2-1/2 years ago... but "cool" none-the-less! (on the trail up from step house pueblo.)
it may be hard to see in this photo, but they had "prehistoric" gutters on the cliffs above the pueblos (to channel water for use). we could see the gutter above the cliff where step house was located... can you see it?
all done with the trail!
after we finished this trail, i insisted we drive over to the museum (kendal and i checked the museam out the day before while nathaniel was taking his tour). this place was really cool, and i have TONS of pictures of the inside, but i'm not posting them here (just too much)! kendal thought he was our tour guide:
the museum was atop another pueblo trail which we did not need a ticket to tour. however, i was VERY tired and kendal seemed to be also, so we did not take the tour. instead, we just went to the overlook and took a picture!
we drove back to our campsite (in the shade) and kendal and i tried to nap while nathaniel took the point lookout trail. this was by far the most strenuous trail nathaniel completed through the entire vacation (thankfully without a baby on his back or a pregnant wife slowing him down). here are a couple of his photos and a video from that trail:
our campground from the point:
need i say more about THIS photo???
there were hundreds of pueblos in the park. so many that i can't even remember what they are all called! so, here are some random photos:
not sure what this is, but i thought it was cool because of the way the fingerprints (hand prints) of the makers are still preserved!
nathaniel and kendal standing on the mesa across from cliff palace (the tour he took yesterday):
here's kendal riding on my shoulders! nathaniel snapped this photo and i quickly said "please help me get him off!" yea... he was pulling my hair!
and to end our long long day in mesa verde, we saw a flock of turkey as we were driving off the mesa! (those of you who know my dad know that every spring he hunts turkey... thus far with no success! we knew he'd appreciate seeing these birds!) if you listen closely at the end of the video, you can here them (and kendal saying dadadada which is most favorite thing in the world to say!)
cool they have turkey's there too? when i was there, we saw lots and lots of deer and a few wild horses. they were outside of the visitor center for mesa verde (the big circular building) there were probably 8-10 horses there. they had short legs like the ones on shackleford.
ReplyDeleteAlso, they had just had the wildfire that charred up the park. good to see there is some underbrush growing now!