Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Mancos Canyon Tour-Kiva Point Trail

The Kiva Point Trail in Ute Mountain Tribal Park,  in southwest Colorado is a short route just off the gravel road in the Mancos River Canyon near the Highway 491 entrance to the park.


Kiva Point is part of the regular tours at Ute Mountain. Both the half day and full day tours normally stop here. The Sun Calendar Tour in late May also stops here.


Ute Mountain Tribal Park requires all visitors to be escorted by a guide and one of the benefits of this system, as opposed to the mass system at nearby Mesa Verde, is the numerous collections of pottery shards and artifacts that are on display in the areas where they were found.


Among the highlights of this trail are the several panels of rock art petroglyphs on the sandstone cliffs a short climb from the road.


The interpretation of these drawings is usually a mystery though current day Pueblo People often have some insights.

The Kiva here is unexcavated and appears as a large circle with scattered rubble. This site was a fairly large village area not far from the Mancos River, a modest sized stream that flows out of the nearby LaPlata mountains. There is an identified dancing ground near the site, along with collapsed towers and a possible three story pueblo.


Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Eagle's Nest House on the Lion Canyon Trail

The highlight site on the Lion Canyon Trail in Ute Mountain Tribal Park in southwest Colorado is the spectacular Eagle's Nest House. It is the fourth of four cliff dweller sites along the three mile trail.

Eagles Nest is thought to be a 15 room and 1 kiva site. The exciting part of visiting this site is getting to it.
The trailhead is reached after a 40 minute ride on gravel roads. Then, a climb down three ladders into Lion Canyon, and hike 1.5 miles along a rough trail.

The first challenge is to climb the 30 foot ladder. The guide made a point of saying that this climb was optional. Six of our group of eight made the harrowing climb.

After reaching the top, there is a fairly narrow and low ceiling ledge to travel. I kept as far to the right as I could, ducking low and not looking over the edge.

The posts sticking out horizontally of the structure probably supported a small balcony, similar to Balcony House in Mesa Verde. It's hard to imagine anyone sitting on the balcony, dangling their legs over the deep canyon.
Creeping slowly and deeper into the site, we could peer into the circular kiva, some of its structures still intact after 700 years. We could creep further and look through the openings past the kiva. Then backtrack along the narrow ledge and the long ladder, to the relative safety of the primitive trail.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Morris #5 Ruin on Lion Canyon Trail

The Morris #5 site is the third of the cliff dweller sites on the remote Lion Canyon Trail in Ute Mountain Tribal Park in southwest Colorado. The trail is a three mile round trip to four barely touched Ancestral Pueblo Ruins sites.

After riding 40 minutes on gravel roads through the Mancos River Canyon and climbing down several ladders we arrive at this 25 room and 2 kiva site.

Archaeologist Morris found this ceremonial kiva with the roof still in place, a rare finding. But he also found a rare design inside. Lacking photo flash in the early 1900s he tore the roof off the photograph the design.
The grooves in the sandstone here were described by the guide as a place where spears were sharpened. These details, along with the numerous collections of pottery and stone tools at the sites here in Ute Mountain Park are things that aren't seen very often in nearby Mesa Verde.

On a second level there seems to be a wall constructed without mortar. The guide suggested that this was thought to be an area for defense. Reachable only by a ladder, residents could retreat and toss the loose stones on unwanted visitors.


Saturday, June 7, 2008

Lion House on the Lion Canyon Trail

Lion House is the second cliff dweller site to see along the Lion Canyon Trail in Ute Mountain Tribal Park in southwest Colorado, sometimes called the "Other Mesa Verde."

Lion House received its name for a family of mountain lions living here when the site was first investigated. The site is thought to have had 45 rooms and 7 kivas, the circular underground ceremonial rooms.



The Lion House site originally had some unusual D shaped kivas, though these were hard to see, and also had an area that was thought to be a day care area for children.

One section of wall shows two different building styles, indicating that it was built at different time periods.

From the Lion House site the trail continues on to the generically named Morris #5 site. The total Lion Canyon Trail round trip is three miles and our group of eight spent 2:30 exploring this lightly visited area.


Thursday, June 5, 2008

Tree House Ruin on Lion Canyon Trail

The Tree House Ruin is the first stop on the Lion Canyon Trail during an all day tour of Ute Mountain Tribal Park in southwest Colorado. Ute Mountain Tribal Park sits on the southern side of the more visited Mesa Verde National Park. It is a 40 minute ride on gravel roads to get to the trailhead.


The trail gets off to a fast start, requiring climbing down several ladders below the canyon rim. At the bottom of the ladders a bench allows you to rest a bit before continuing to the Douglas Fir shaded Tree House.
Soon the Tree House Ruin comes into view, arrayed along a corner of the canyon. The sites in Ute Mountain Park rely on the guide for interpretation. There are no signs or trail pamphlets available. This site has a setting similar to Spruce Tree House in Mesa Verde Park.

The views in the ruins here are very intimate, as the groups visiting are small and are escorted.
There is time to linger and look around at the details of the site. Some of these details, such as collections of pottery shards and stone tools are not things you see on the trails in Mesa Verde Park.

From the Tree House Ruin, we returned back to the base of the ladders and then continued along the trail to the next of the four cliff dweller sites, Lion House. The Lion Canyon Trail is a round trip of three miles to the four sites.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Lion Canyon Overlook Trail

Ute Mountain Tribal Park covers the southern side of Mesa Verde in southwest Colorado and is a much less visited area than the National Park, all visits being accompanied by a guide.


The Lion Canyon Overlook Trail is a short 10 minute walk along the rim of Lion Canyon to a lookout point at the junction with Johnson Canyon. The trail is on the opposite side of Lion Canyon from the four cliff dwellings that are along the Lion Canyon Trail. Just as in Mesa Verde these spectacular sites are protected by alcoves in the sandstone cliffs.


Arriving at the lookout point there is a spectacular view down the canyon to the south. There are some long benches here to sit and enjoy the view. Turning back and looking up Lion Canyon, the LaPlata Mountains sparkle, Mt. Hesperus the highest of this group. The forest on the mesa top here is Pinon Pine and Juniper, with some Douglas Fir growing in the cooler protected areas in the canyon.

Straight across the from the lookout point is the Eagle's Nest House ruin site, the last stop on the Lion Canyon Trail. The tall ladder used to access the site is visible. It took about 12 minutes to reach the lookout point and our tour group used about 35 minutes total on this trail.

In 2010, the Turning Red Tail Hawk Trail has been added, visiting the Morris 3 site. This hike continues from the Lion Canyon Overlook down below the rim and up Johnson Canyon for 1.25 miles to the rarely visited Morris 3 site.