Category: Our travel

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Ancestral Pueblo & fire on Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde
We went up from Chaco Canyon to Mesa Verde, the other big Anasazi place. This one was also abandoned around 1300. Scholars speculate about the reasons. Maybe it is simple as the lifestyle was just not sustainable.

We listened to an audio book called “Cities of the Ancient World” on the way to and from the Mesa Verde. Most of the great cities and cultures of the world have declined or disappeared. Our experience in the last couple of centuries is not the common one. We have experienced more or less steady growth. But even we have ghost towns, places abandoned when the resource played out or just when people found better opportunities.

Alex made a couple of good speculations. Maybe simple prosaic causes pushed them people out. This settlement was on the edge of a trading community. Maybe when centers farther south declined, this one did too. It is like the contagion of the economic decline of 2008. Or maybe they just used up the resource. The forests above Mesa Verde were destroyed by fire in 2003. They still have not recovered. A fire or a drought would starve the people of Mesa Verde. Theirs was always a precarious existence. It would not take much to tip them off.

Fire on Mesa Verde

Fires stopped us from visiting Mesa Verde when we drove through here back in 2003. Turns out that this was a serious fire, part of a series of fires that burned 24,000 acres in Mesa Verde in 2002-3. This land was covered with old growth juniper and piñon pine forests. These are slow growing trees that never get very tall. It is not a fire adapted forest. A big fire can kill it. A big fire did kill it – all of it.

As many reading this know, I am an advocate of using fire in forestry. I have used fire on my own land with excellent results. It is a wonderful but fierce tool and fire is not appropriate in all conditions. I walked through some of the burned over acres today. After around fifteen years, the land still has not recovered. It is so different from what I know in Virginia. There is no evidence of natural regeneration, even near places where the forest is intact and presumably living trees would have provided seeds.

What to do? If you believe in “natural” you do nothing and let nature decide. This is not good. Nature doesn’t do any thinking. Random events can create widely divergent outcomes. A confluence of good conditions might restore the forest, while bad luck will leave it in the poor state it is today. And bad luck is much more likely.

Piñon, for example, don’t produce germinating seeds until they are 75 years old. And when they do produce, they only produce viable seeds only every seven to eight years. If they hit a drought during that time, nothing grows.

Right now, the ground is covered with invasive cheat grass and in lots of places with nothing at all. It seems that there is kind of an ecological Nash equilibrium. This calls for human intervention to move it off this self-sustaining bad outcome.

There would be a question of resources, but it would be useful to replant pines and junipers. Once established, they would be sustainable, at least until the next big fire.
There really is no natural choice. There are many options, some better than others. There has been no human-free environment in North America for at least 12,000 years. The fires that destroyed the piñon -juniper forest was human-made. At least part of it was caused by the Ips beetle killing piñon pines. The beetle probably hitchhiked in on a car or truck. The cheat grass is an invasive brought in by humans. Humans started some of the fires. Given all these human choices that created this outcome, it is silly – it is pernicious – to think that there is a natural choice. There are, however, sustainable choices that can be had with a targeted human intervention.

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Ancient America

Alex and I climbed up to the ridge to get a better view of the valley. You have a fairly arduous climb through a notch, as you see in the first picture and then it is mostly flat. The next picture shows the valley from the ridge, followed by the ruins from the height. Picture #3 shows a butte followed by a kiva, a ceremonial room of the Ancestral Pueblo.

Settlements flourished in Chaco Canyon from around AD 800-1250. Then the people left. Nobody is sure why. Some speculate that climate change was the culprit. It got hotter and dryer around 1250. Others say it might have been warfare. There is evidence of violence and maybe even cannibalism near the end of the period, but there is no genaral agreement among scholars. For whatever reason, the people dispersed.

The structures of Chaco fell into ruins and filled with windblown dirt. The Navajo avoided the ruins, considering them full of evil spirits. A U.S. cavalry detachment came across the place in 1849. Most of the names of the structures date from that time. The cavalry had a Mexican scout. When asked about the ruins, he just gave them Spanish names. Chaco Canyon, for example, just means flat canyon. Pueblo Bonito, means pretty village, while Pueblo de Arroyo means village on the wash.

The structures were build in the shapes of D, oriented toward the cardinal directions. Scholars speculate that astronomy was very important to the inhabitants.They carefully watched the solstices and the equinox. At the winter solstice, they did elaborate ceremonies to coax the sun back. Seems to have worked, at least from their point of view.

My first two pictures shoe Pueblo Bonito and Pueblo de Arroyo.

The structures are made from stacked stone, with outer layers shaped to fit together with little mortar. Inside was filled with coarser stone and rubble. You can see an example in the third picture. The roofs were made from wood. Ponderosa pine timbers formed the supports were carried from far away. The nearest pine forests are sixty miles away. The forth picture shows the mass timber construction.

I learned another part of my knowledge has been overtaken by events on our visit to Chaco Canyon. I learned that it had be built by people called the Anasazi. Today I learned that they are the people formerly known as the Anasazi, now called “Ancestral Pueblos”.

Seems that the name Anasazi is pejorative. It was the name that the Navajo gave them and it means ancestors of the enemy, i.e. the Pueblo. (The Navajo and the Pueblo did not get on well. The Navajo are more recent invaders from the north and displaced the original people to a great extent.) Of course, I am not sure that Ancestral Pueblo is a much better term, since the nobody is really sure about the details of the Anasazi. Maybe better stick with the old name.

No matter the names, Chaco Canyon is interesting. It is hard to get here. It is near nothing and you have to drive for a half hour on a dirt road flanked by open range, so the cows wander across, as you see in the pictures below. I will write more about the Chaco experience in a few minutes.

My first picture shows livestock on the road, followed by a picture of the sign warning of the cows. Third is a nice of picture of the sky and one of the windows. Finally, shows a gap in the hills through which a the Anasazi built roads.

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Utah & New Mexico with Alex

Glen Canyon
We went over Glen Canyon Dam. It is about as tall as Hoover Dam, but a lot narrower and impounds less water.

First is the Colorado River below the dam, next the dam and the river above. Last three are from the dirt road that we took to Buckskin Canyon. The colors and contrasts are very bright here. Alex pointed out that blue and orange contrast on the color wheel, since lots of the ground is reddish-orange it sets off strongly from the blue skies.

Buckskin Canyon
We hiked down and through Buckskin Canyon. This is an iconic slot canyon often featured in magazines. It is an easy hike except for one place where a big rock has blocked the way. The canyon is very narrow and you can understand how a flash flood would be deadly, but we had blue skies and little sign of water in general.

Farmington
Latest in our travel: beer drinking, filling up with gas at Sinclair and eating at Porter’s Smokehouse. We had a couple of flights of beer, which is why the cups are so small. You can see me, Sinclair, Porter’s Restaurant and Alex in the wash on the way to Buckskin Canyon.

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Utah Sep2017

Alex & I walked down to the Iron Horse restaurant. It had a good outdoor place to eat and drink and keeping with my natural beer garden environment, I felt right at home. I had the Ghost Rider IPA by Wasatch Brewery.

But I was lured off the patio and inside the restaurant by good country music. This guy played all the old songs I liked. Alex tolerated them, but knew none. I bought the guy’s CD. I think I have a CD player, but I made the purchase more out of solidarity than desire to have a CD.

They asked for requests and played two of mine: “Ghost Riders in the Sky” & “El Paso.” They didn’t do my other request: “Where the Mountains Meet the Sky.” Maybe they didn’t know it. Not many people do these days.

Kanab is an interesting little town. It used to be a bigger deal for movie making and there are lots of pictures of old timey actors. I knew most of them by their faces and some even by their names. Alex knew none except John Wayne.

They named the steaks at the Iron Horse, and named one for the Duke. The John Wayne steak is 36 ounce rib eye. If you eat the whole thing, you got to be in the John Wayne club. It seems to me that if you win you lose and if you lose you lose, so better not to play that game at all. Alex had the Joel McCrea steak. Said it was good. I just went with pulled pork.

The ranger laughed when he saw the mud on our car. He knew that the GPS has directed us down the dirt road. It doesn’t usually rain much around here, but it rained this morning and made it muddy. There was a paved road. It was a little longer. We took that one on the way out.

It was an atypical day at Coral Pink Dunes, cool and with drizzling rain. I imagine it must be a different experience with hot sun. I liked the day we got.

The sand moves too much for plant roots to take hold on most of the dunes. They are the classic shifting sands. But Some have vegetation that holds them in place. Where there is enough stability and water, they even get trees. You can see all sorts of dunes on the first picture, moving sand, brush and trees. We had some low clouds that added to the experience, as you see in the second & third pictures. Forth is a hummock. The roots grab the sand on the leeward side and catches more sand. As the roots are buried, they reach farther down and can access water more easily.If it gets stable enough, it can be colonized by gambel oaks. Last picture is Alex trying to look like an explorer.

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Zion and Hidden Canyon

We had wonderful weather today, cool in the morning and only about 85 (low humidity) by the afternoon.

We got some rain, which meant that we could not walk much up the narrows canyon through the water, for fear of flash floods. I didn’t want to do this anyway. I don’t think it is much fun to slosh through water and soak my boots. I admit that I used the threat of flash flood as an excuse, but the authorities do warn against this.

We walked up the path to hidden canyon. This canyon remained hidden until somebody fell in and discovered it. It was a pretty walk and not very hard or scary, but there were some tight ledges.

You can see us on the trails. I have included a video of the weeping rock. Water falls on the plateau above, seeps through the permeable sand and rock until it hits impermeable “aquicludes” and it drips out.

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Angels' Landing in Zion National Park

Alex and I climbed to “Angel’s Landing” in Zion. It was not a very long hike, but it is steep, arduous & scary. When you get near the top, it is impossible to climb safely w/o the help of chains anchored to the living rock. At some point there is drop off of hundreds of feet on both sides of a narrow causeway.

The pictures I took do not show the reality. I am not naturally afraid of heights, but I felt a little dizzy sometimes and held fast to the chains at all times.

A lot of people climb up. It takes almost an hour to climb down from the rocks to the ordinary trail, as you have to take turns and wait for people coming up, and you are packed in. It is like when they are doing road construction and traffic can move only one way. We had some pretty French girls in front of us and some nice looking American girls behind.
We were talking to the girls at one of the stops. One of them pointed out that I was an inspiration to the people coming the other way. I felt proud until she continued that the oncoming folks would feel encourage that if an old guy like me could make it, they could too. She quickly realized that she had inadvertently told the truth and tried to dissemble, but I told her that she was right.

As I said, the pictures do not do it justice. I suggest that you Google a video of “Angel’s Landing.” The video shows it better. The trail has two summits. You get up to “Scout’s Landing” and then you climb some chains and you think you are almost to the top. When you get to the top, you see there is much more, as you can see in the first photos.

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Around Utah

German bakery in the high desert
Had lunch at a German bakery. They had a nice set up. We had brats and beer. Just like Germany, except different geography, drier conditions, much lower population density …

Fixing the tire
We got a slow leak on one of the tires. Lucky we found a place to fix it. You can see the shop waiting area with the big elk. The guys evidently liked hunting. The waiting area featured lots of mule deer, a pronghorn and a bighorn sheep.

Desert rain
After visiting Bryce Canyon, we had a short but very intense summer rain storm. It was over in about ten minutes and dried out right after. There are also a few more photos of the canyon.

Beer belongs

I like to think of my “natural environment” as the forests and fields, but I think it might actually beer gardens.

As long as I am in Utah & Colorado, I think I will transfer my allegiance from Love’s to Sinclair. I have three good reasons. First, I like the dinosaur logo. Second, when I was a kid, there was a Sinclair station on Howell Avenue near my house. Third, there don’t seem to be many/any Love’s around here.

Good mileage
I have been getting very good gas mileage for the SUV around here. Maybe it is the “dinocare” from Sinclair. More likely, it is because I am driving on good highways, but at lower and more efficient speed.

Alex and I climbed to “Angel’s Landing” in Zion. It was not a very long hike, but it is steep, arduous & scary. When you get near the top, it is impossible to climb safely w/o the help of chains anchored to the living rock. At some point there is drop off of hundreds of feet on both sides of a narrow causeway.

Angel landing
The pictures I took do not show the reality. I am not naturally afraid of heights, but I felt a little dizzy sometimes and held fast to the chains at all times.


A lot of people climb up. It takes almost an hour to climb down from the rocks to the ordinary trail, as you have to take turns and wait for people coming up, and you are packed in. It is like when they are doing road construction and traffic can move only one way. We had some pretty French girls in front of us and some nice looking American girls behind.

We were talking to the girls at one of the stops. One of them pointed out that I was an inspiration to the people coming the other way. I felt proud until she continued that the oncoming folks would feel encourage that if an old guy like me could make it, they could too. She quickly realized that she had inadvertently told the truth and tried to dissemble, but I told her that she was right.

As I said, the pictures do not do it justice. I suggest that you Google a video of “Angel’s Landing.” The video shows it better. The trail has two summits. You get up to “Scout’s Landing” and then you climb some chains and you think you are almost to the top. When you get to the top, you see there is much more, as you can see in the first photos.

Last pictures. First is Alex and I near the top of the Angel’s Landing climb. Next is a monument to the CCC boys, who did a lot of work in Zion. After that is Alex’s supper and finally the beer menu. Evidently, beer can be only 4% alcohol in Utah.

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Hiking in the high and dry

Stopped off at the John Wesley Powell museum in Green River, UT. Powell explored the Green and Colorado Rivers in little wooden boats. It was a different experience than people today get going down in rubber rafts.
The museum was small but interesting. One of the corny – but effective – tricks was talking manikins. Their eyes, mouths and arms moved. In Powell’s case arm, singular, since as the robot explained, he lost one arm at the Battle of Shiloh.
Powell is known, if people know him at all, as an explorer. He was also a great naturalist and an anthropologist, and he was a proto-ecologist.  The science had yet to be developed, but Powell described the relationships between biotic communities and factors like soils and water.
Hiking on the high and dry BLM land
We got up at the smudge of dawn so that we could avoid the 100-degree predicted heat. We could not go earlier since I was afraid to drive on dirt paved Hole in the Rock Road. It still took us more than an hour on more than 40 miles of bad road, but Alex had a particular place he wanted to be. There seemed to be several similar walks into the void along the way, but I deferred to his wishes.
It was not that bad. I went along to the edge of Coyote Gulch, at a place called Jacob Hamlin Arch. It was cool in the morning and although it got up to 94 degrees before we got back at about noon, it was the proverbial “dry heat” and not as hard to take. Still, even in the “dry heat” I was dripping sweat. I brought along the requisite four liters of water, but drank only one 12oz bottle and I forced that down. I don’t really like water. It is plain. Back at the car I had an ice chest full of Coke Zero, so I figured I could wait and I did. I think this whole hydration thing is overrated. If you are out for only a few hours, you can make do. Those guys at Gold’s Gym with their bottles of water are silly. Get a drink from the bubbler before and after, but you don’t need to slukke down during the workout.
This was a sojourn on BLM land. BLM land is NOT a park and NOT developed with trails, but it was not hard to follow the way. Generations of hikers had set up cairns, piles of rock that you can follow from point to point. Still, this kind of system makes me nervous. There is a lot of territory out there and if you miss one of the connections you could find yourself far away from where you hoped to be.
Alex was confident. He does some sort of orienteering contests with his infantry unit, but I was less than eager to bushwhack through those prickly bushes and up and down steep rock faces. I figure that if there was a better trail somebody would have found it by now. So, I keep to the cairns.
Generally, I have found it advantageous to follow water courses, Around here they are dry and nice paths. Water is even lazier than I am. It seeks the path of least resistance and tends to wear down the sharp and jagged. The way down for water is often the easiest way to get up the rocky rise for humans.
As you see in the picture, I use the ski-style walking sticks. They are wonderful for climbing and crossing rocks. I observe that most people use them incorrectly. I you are pressing straight down, you are doing it wrong. What purpose does that serve? The point should usually be behind you. You bring the stick up to the lead foot and then push from there. You put them in front when going up a big rock or when going down you hold them by the end. They are great for balance. Four legs are more stable than two and you can use the sticks to test the ground in front. Don’t leave home w/o them.
Remember the wisdom: four legs good; two legs bad.
My first picture is four-legged me. Next is Alex on the ridge, followed by a cairn and the arch. Last photo is the crossroads of nowhere.
Prehistoric graffiti

Final post before bedtime. We had lunch at a nice place. Again, we had pizza and again the pizza was unremarkable, but the ambiance was great.
The penultimate photo shows Alex looking at petroglyphs, a kind of prehistoric graffiti. Ironic that all around are signs warning people of the dire consequences if they create any graffiti of their own. I wonder if they ancient authors got in trouble with their parents. The last photo is Alex with the giant lizard. I guess that is sort of the local mascot. The real ones are smaller.

 
 

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On the road in Colorado 2

Alex and I had pizza at the place pictured. The pizza was ordinary, but the ambiance was great. We got to sit outside in near perfect weather with lost of nice scenery.
Alex and I had pizza at the place pictured. The pizza was ordinary, but the ambiance was great. We got to sit outside in near perfect weather with nice scenery.
 

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On the road in Colorado

For Christine Johnson – sunrise on farm credit. Share with your co-workers
They get a lot of blowing snow on these highways. To prevent that, they have ordinary snow fences and living ones, i.e. trees. They even have signs that tell you that they are living snow fences. Living – green infrastructure is better.
Colorado mountains are very nice, but there are too many “wilderburbs,” houses way out in the woods. They are great for the folks living there, but it requires more infrastructure and makes it harder to fight fires and nearly impossible to do good prescribed fires.

My last two photo are a nice lake along the road and beautiful tree and meadow.