We have been in this general region twice before but missed the time frame of the guided cliff dwelling tours. Late October 2014 was too late and late March 2019 too early. Our tours were Oct. 12 and Oct. 21 was the last day for them.
This was our first time in this area with the Tesla. I-40 and I-10 have both been upgraded into New Mexico with the faster v3 superchargers, which is fortunate because unlike in 2020 there are plenty of Teslas on the road now in non-coastal states.
Off the interstates southern Colorado remains a supercharger desert: nothing in the key towns of Cortez, Durango or Pagosa Springs. Closest are Blanton, UT, Farmington, NM and Telluride.
The Arizona Tesla owners are unhappy that there is also no charger in Kayenta to allow the most direct route from Flagstaff. Rumor has it that this is due to power limitations on the Navajo lands. So we drove to Mesa Verde via Gallup.
The original road into Mesa Verde went around looker’s left of Knife Edge Point.
There is now a tunnel through the mountain.
We also stopped at 8,570 foot Park Point, which has a fire watch station.
We could see in most directions but there were clouds obscuring the San Juans to the north.
Far View Lodge at Mesa Verde was a bit of an adventure as there were 5 Teslas competing for the one Tesla Level 2 charger at the lodge and the J1772 was out of order. We charged at 110 via my 12 gauge extension cord overnight and fortunately got 4 hours on the Level 2 from 4-8PM on Thursday after our guided tours.
We were in the Chapin Mesa area from 8:30AM-3:30PM, starting with the first Cliff Palace tour at 9AM.
It was 35F early in the morning and Cliff Palace, the largest surviving Anasazi structure, is on a west facing cliff.
A couple of crows flew in here.
The tan wall against the ceiling encloses a storage area. Dried corn could be preserved for many years.
View back from south side:
Kiva:
Air flows into the kiva from the hole center right and is dispersed by the deflector wall, which also prevents any fire at center from blowing out. The very small hole lower left is a sipapu, symbolizing the portal through which ancient ancestors entered the current world. So now know we the source of the ski area name!
View up from one of the small entries:
Paint on the walls is much less faded in here.
Zoomed view of blackened walls from cooking fires:
The plant at lower right is growing naturally despite no visible water. Anything this size built in the 1100’s would definitely have had a seep spring nearby. Nearly all of the cliff dwellings were built near where water seeps out between porous sandstone and non-porous shale layers.
Here the Anasazi built walls into the cliff contours.
This reminded me of similar walls built around the same time at Great Zimbabwe, which I visited in 2002.
Stairs climbing out of Cliff Palace:
Between tours we visited the museum and took a 2.4 mile roundtrip hike to some petroglyphs. Behind the museum is Spruce Tree House.
Formerly tourists were free to explore Spruce Tree House, but it is closed now because the overhanging cliff is unstable.
The trail to the petroglyph had some interesting features.
The petroglyphs, mountain lion at far left:
At 2PM we had the Balcony House tour. Before the descent we have this view across Soda Canyon.
There are some ruins in the left side of the alcove. The mesa above was part of the extensive burn area in 2000. Guides said the appearance was not unlike the Anasazi era as the slow growing pinyon and juniper trees were deforested.
Metal stairways were built down the cliff side. Then we ascend this ladder into Balcony House.
A seep spring is at the bottom of that ladder.
From the top of the ladder is a passage to the first section.
This section has the balcony wall, where families with children could live.
The next section has two kivas and no wall, likely reserved for adults.
We moved through another passage to that room.
Second story walkways were supported by wooden beams.
Tree bark was used as part of the walkway reinforcement.
Exiting we are waiting to crawl through a short tunnel, then climb the rock stairs on the other side.
We have one last ladder to climb up to the mesa.
Early the next morning we drove the short distance from the lodge to Far View House.
This was probably the largest Mesa Verde settlement, with the farming areas on the mesa nearby. But the more sheltered dwellings in cliff alcoves preserved much better.
This reservoir was built not far from Far View House.
We walked around it and could tell the rock enclosure was level.
We had lunch near the Farmington supercharger and then drove the 200 miles to Santa Fe to meet the eclipse chaser group for dinner hosted by Michael Zeiler.
This was our first time in this area with the Tesla. I-40 and I-10 have both been upgraded into New Mexico with the faster v3 superchargers, which is fortunate because unlike in 2020 there are plenty of Teslas on the road now in non-coastal states.
Off the interstates southern Colorado remains a supercharger desert: nothing in the key towns of Cortez, Durango or Pagosa Springs. Closest are Blanton, UT, Farmington, NM and Telluride.
The Arizona Tesla owners are unhappy that there is also no charger in Kayenta to allow the most direct route from Flagstaff. Rumor has it that this is due to power limitations on the Navajo lands. So we drove to Mesa Verde via Gallup.
The original road into Mesa Verde went around looker’s left of Knife Edge Point.
There is now a tunnel through the mountain.
We also stopped at 8,570 foot Park Point, which has a fire watch station.
We could see in most directions but there were clouds obscuring the San Juans to the north.
Far View Lodge at Mesa Verde was a bit of an adventure as there were 5 Teslas competing for the one Tesla Level 2 charger at the lodge and the J1772 was out of order. We charged at 110 via my 12 gauge extension cord overnight and fortunately got 4 hours on the Level 2 from 4-8PM on Thursday after our guided tours.
We were in the Chapin Mesa area from 8:30AM-3:30PM, starting with the first Cliff Palace tour at 9AM.
It was 35F early in the morning and Cliff Palace, the largest surviving Anasazi structure, is on a west facing cliff.
A couple of crows flew in here.
The tan wall against the ceiling encloses a storage area. Dried corn could be preserved for many years.
View back from south side:
Kiva:
Air flows into the kiva from the hole center right and is dispersed by the deflector wall, which also prevents any fire at center from blowing out. The very small hole lower left is a sipapu, symbolizing the portal through which ancient ancestors entered the current world. So now know we the source of the ski area name!
View up from one of the small entries:
Paint on the walls is much less faded in here.
Zoomed view of blackened walls from cooking fires:
The plant at lower right is growing naturally despite no visible water. Anything this size built in the 1100’s would definitely have had a seep spring nearby. Nearly all of the cliff dwellings were built near where water seeps out between porous sandstone and non-porous shale layers.
Here the Anasazi built walls into the cliff contours.
This reminded me of similar walls built around the same time at Great Zimbabwe, which I visited in 2002.
Stairs climbing out of Cliff Palace:
Between tours we visited the museum and took a 2.4 mile roundtrip hike to some petroglyphs. Behind the museum is Spruce Tree House.
Formerly tourists were free to explore Spruce Tree House, but it is closed now because the overhanging cliff is unstable.
The trail to the petroglyph had some interesting features.
The petroglyphs, mountain lion at far left:
At 2PM we had the Balcony House tour. Before the descent we have this view across Soda Canyon.
There are some ruins in the left side of the alcove. The mesa above was part of the extensive burn area in 2000. Guides said the appearance was not unlike the Anasazi era as the slow growing pinyon and juniper trees were deforested.
Metal stairways were built down the cliff side. Then we ascend this ladder into Balcony House.
A seep spring is at the bottom of that ladder.
From the top of the ladder is a passage to the first section.
This section has the balcony wall, where families with children could live.
The next section has two kivas and no wall, likely reserved for adults.
We moved through another passage to that room.
Second story walkways were supported by wooden beams.
Tree bark was used as part of the walkway reinforcement.
Exiting we are waiting to crawl through a short tunnel, then climb the rock stairs on the other side.
We have one last ladder to climb up to the mesa.
Early the next morning we drove the short distance from the lodge to Far View House.
This was probably the largest Mesa Verde settlement, with the farming areas on the mesa nearby. But the more sheltered dwellings in cliff alcoves preserved much better.
This reservoir was built not far from Far View House.
We walked around it and could tell the rock enclosure was level.
We had lunch near the Farmington supercharger and then drove the 200 miles to Santa Fe to meet the eclipse chaser group for dinner hosted by Michael Zeiler.
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