And Finally...Mesa Verde National Park!

I first have to tell you about the trip from the Grand Canyon to Mesa Verde. We traveled through the Navajo Nation and on the outskirts of Monument Valley. I did not take any pictures of Navajo Nation for one main reason; total astonishment. Even the mission trip that I went on, to a South Dakota Indian reservation did not prepare me for the total desolation of the Navajo Nation. There was nothing; sand, heat, and wind with small shacks for homes and land that seemed to be good for nothing besides a place where cars go to die. It is one thing to see poverty stricken areas, but to see poverty in a place that lacks natural resources like water and agriculture is very disheartening. It was hard to take in and not feel pity for the Navajos who live there.

Anyway, here is Mesa Verde, the place that these wonderful people's ancestors once called home. It was a very spiritual place that was a pleasure to observe. Learning about the ancestral Puebloans who lived in these cliffs and survived for hundreds of years was amazing. Below is a slideshow of all the "cliff houses" that the visitors got to see and a little more.

This was the 1st of the cliff dwellings that we saw, Balcony House as it was called.

In most of the dwellings, rooms were anywhere from 6-8 ft. square and about 6 ft. high. It is believed that each family would share a room, meaning 3-5 people would share the space. Talk about tight living quarters. In the above picture you can see two sticks shooting out of a hole in the ground, this was a recreated ceiling to a Kiva.

The Kiva, a sacred room for the Ancient Puebloans. This cicular room would have had a roof of timber and thatch with a hole in the center for an entrance. You can see the round fire pit in the floor with a deflector in front of it. This really blew me away; they figured out how to bring air into the room, deflect it so it would carry the smoke around and out of the hole in the roof. This was designed so nobody would die from smoke inhilation, genius! I also found the small hole behind the fire pit interesting. It stood for the entrance of man from the first demension inside the earth, into the second demension, living man on earth. These Kiva's were used for spiritual rooms and were designated to each individual family.

These are stones that they carved and set into the rock in order to grind their maize. These can still be used today, just like the Kiva by the ancestors of the Puebloans.

The group. Front row (L to R) Mr. Clark Cropper, Mr. Keith Bell, Elaine, Travis; second row (L to R) me, Alicia R., Amber, Kevin, Jeff, Kosmo, Alicia A., Tanya; in back (L to R) Matt, Lindsay, and Mark.

Cliff Palace. The largest of the found cliff dwellings. The archeologists say there are over one hundred rooms and just under thirty Kivas in this one dwelling. By the time the Puebloans started this palace, they had mastered their building technique; mixing their own mortor, weaving rope and thatch for roofs and floors, and their fine masonry skills show in this building.

Travis and Alicia listen intently to our guide's speech about the once great nation of the Ancient Puebloans. Some researchers believe that the Palace was the spiritual center for different families who dwelled throughout the cliffs of Mesa Verde. It contained an unusual amount of Kiva's for one dwelling.

As we walked out of the Palace, we had nice, easy steps and ladders to climb, instead of actually climbing the cliff face like the inhabitants would have done.

This is Cliff Palace, looking back towards the beginning of the tour. One of our group made the statement, "if they could build places like this that have stood here for 8 centuries, why do our houses start falling apart after 5 years?" Good question, I thought.

The day we visited Cliff Palace was the day it was predicted to snow/rain all night with a low around 30 degrees. There was a split between the people who wanted to stay one more night and the people who wanted to leave and get a hotel room. I remained indifferent. We ended up staying through the storm and we all woke to about three inches of snow blanketing our camp. I enjoyed the banter that followed; "I told you so!" said the ones who wanted to leave. It was that day that I started to get a sore throat, I knew I was getting sick but I was happy it was the last couple of days on the trip. The travel home was long and not all that fun (riding in a stinky van with eight other people is not the best place to get sick). Now that I have been back for awhile I look back at it and remember how fun everyday was on the trip. All three places were special to me and I will return to see more of them one day. Until then, I have these (and others) pictures and my memories of a great trip.

Camping Trip...

I know that I promised to tell about Mesa Verde National Park but, Lindsay and I had an amazing weekend. We had planned this trip to the Nantahala a few weeks ago to meet up with friends and enjoy paddling. This would be Lindsay's first trip on the Nantahala in her new canoe and my first trip down the Cheoah since test running it five years ago. Lindsay styled the Nantahala as usual. We put on at Patton's run and took out at Surfer's rapid summing up 3/4's of the river. She was thrilled to find out that she had little trouble with the river and I was thrilled to have my wife as a new paddling partner! That night we met up with Brandon and a few of his friends for a good night around a camp fire sharing river stories. The next morning it was time to hit the Cheoah. After meeting up with my friend Trent and breaking camp, we headed to the river. I grew anxious as we got closer to the river and started remembering the last trip I had on the Cheoah. Although we ended up waiting for awhile to start, the river definitely was worth the wait. It was a busy day with over 400 paddlers out and it made for a festive feel to the day. The sun was shinning and the water was warm and the rapids were incredible. The river just kept delivering, continuous class II-IV rapids with an amazing 1 1/2 mile class IV rapid to end things off. I wanted to get out and do it again but unfortunately, reality was calling. As we drove out of North Carolina, Lindsay and I both talked about the day that we could return to this wonderful place. Everytime we go back, it gets harder to leave. The thing we keep telling ourselves is that we only have a couple more years to sacrifice. I know that once we obtian the goals we have set, our return will be that much sweeter. It's just sometimes hard to be patient!

Oh, and I promise to write about Mesa Verde soon!

Although this is not me, this is the line that I took through Bear Creek Rapid. The line was not all that tough, just exciting!

This is another line that you can take. Just thought this was a better picture of the rapid. The reason I have pictures of other people is that my camera would not work that day. I don't know what is happening to it but next time I will have shots from my own trip!