Knife Edge Trail Bird Hike

During the 2011 summer season Mesa Verde National Park is offering bird hikes on the Knife Edge Trail on Sunday and Wednesday at 7:30 AM. The Knife Edge Trail is one of three trails in the Morefield Campground area.

The Knife Edge Trail is a 2 mile round trip along the north rim and historically was a main road in the park, built in 1914. As a regular hike it emphasizes the plants in the area that were available to the Ancestral Pueblo people. There are also wide views of the Montezuma Valley with the regional mountain ranges visible.

The bird hike is different than other hiking in that the walking is slower and the talking is more in whispers. There is more effort at listening and wide angle awareness to spot movement of the birds. If you suffer from Nature-deficit disorder, bird hiking might be for you.

The Mesa Verde checklist of birds includes 186 species with 78 known to breed in the park. The checklist mentions five habitat types including Mesa Tops, Side Canyons, Deep Canyons, Riparian, and North Rim.
 

The Knife Edge Trail is probably the typical North Rim Habitat where the mountain shrubs include Gambel Oak, Utah Serviceberry, Mountain Mahogany, Cliff Fendler Bush, Chokecherry, and shady spots with Douglas Firs.

The highlight possibility on the hike is Peregrine Falcons along the sandstone cliffs. They have been sighted on some of the hikes but we didn’t see any on the day I hiked.

The birds we did see included Rufous-sided and Green-tailed Towhees, Scrub Jay, Raven, Rock Wren and another wren, maybe the Canyon Wren. There were many high flying birds high above on the cliff tops that were either White-throated Swifts or Violet-green Swallows. One bird we thought was a Yellow-rumped Warbler.
 

The hike is advertised as lasting two hours, but since this isn’t an archaeology sensitive area, you can stay longer even if the ranger has to leave. I stayed on the trail for 2:50 hours, finishing by myself. On the return hike I saw a Western Tanager and a circling soaring hawk with broad wings, probably the Red Tailed Hawk.

Oak Tree House on Fewkes Canyon Trail

One of the most eye catching of the several Ancestral Pueblo ruins sites visible from Sun Point is the Oak Tree House. During the summer of 2011, Mesa Verde National Park is offering ranger guided hikes to Oak Tree House and further on to New Fire House and the Fire Temple.

Oak Tree House has about 50 rooms and 6 kivas. The interpretive sign at the Sun Point overlook says that the sloping alcove floor was leveled using retaining walls and fill, and that every available square foot of area was used, including the ledge area above.

The one mile round trip trail begins at the Sun Temple on the Mesa Top Loop. The hike gets off to a fast start with hikers clinging to an installed rope and stepping carefully into carved footholds and descending a ladder to a ledge area. The ledge trail winds around the point under the Sun Temple and Mummy House.
 

Along the way there are views from below toward Mummy House and across Cliff Canyon toward Cliff Palace and Sunset House. Near the tip of the point there is a small seep spring that one of the water sources for this relatively highly populated canyon area.

The trail to Oak Tree House was mostly constructed in 1915 and was improved in the 1930s but has not been used much since then. There were a few hikes here in the 2006 Mesa Verde Centennial year. In the 2010-11 summer seasons some of these rarely used trails have been re-opened on a trial basis to public visits.

The kiva at the right end of the site appears to have been modified into a grain grinding room. Another Mesa Verde site where I’ve noticed an indoor grinding room is Coyote Village on the Far View Trail.
 

There is a lot of soot visible at Oak Tree House. The square opening on the upper left appears to be a well framed window. Most of the small openings that we think are windows are actually doorways, but this one appears to actually be a window.

Oak Tree House is being monitored for structural changes with small monitors that are visible. This device provides data for deciding if any action needs to be taken to stabilize the fragile walls.
 

On the left side of the site, a T shaped doorway is visible near other rectangular doorways. The building dates for Oak Tree House appear to be earlier than many of the other cliff dwelling sites. The dates here are 1184 AD to a construction stop in 1209 AD.
 

From Oak Tree House the hike continues a short distance to New Fire House and Fire Temple (see separate post for Fire Temple). After visiting there we retrace back to the trailhead. The hike is advertised as two hours but is a better experience if it lasts close to three hours.

Fire Temple on Fewkes Canyon Trail

One of the special hikes at Mesa Verde National Park in 2011 visits the Fire Temple and New Fire House in Fewkes Canyon. These side by side sites are visible from Sun Point on the Mesa Top Loop but have not been visited by the public since the 1930s.

The one mile round trip hike begins at the Sun Temple and winds around the point past Oak Tree House and below Mummy House. The hike I was on started hiking at about 8:20 AM and arrived at New Fire House at about 9:45 AM.

New Fire House is a two level structure. The lower level has seven rooms and three kivas. From the trail level, New Fire House is hard to view because the trail is a little below the floor level of the site. From the right side, there is an open area in the back of the alcove with some moisture and plants growing similar to Balcony House and Long House.

One of the possible interpretations of New Fire House is that it was the residence of the persons who were responsible for the ceremonies held at the adjacent Fire Temple. The trail stays along the front and doesn’t enter the site. There weren’t any good views into the kivas.

The upper level has 13 rooms. The overlook interpretive sign says there are foot and toe holds leading to the upper level and that ladders were probably used. There is a good view of the structure to the right of the upper level from below.

The main section of the Fire Temple resembles the floor a great kiva with two rectangular structures and a central circular structure that we usually think is a fire pit. The rectangular structures are often described as foot drums associated with dancing. The large outdoor plaza at Long House on Wetherill Mesa has similar features.

The great kivas at Chaco Canyon have these features as does the great kiva at Aztec Ruins. Early investigator J.W. Fewkes thought that the central fire pit may have been an “eternal flame” due to the large quantity of ashes that were found here. Fewkes saw a connection between this site and current “New Fire” rites practiced by the Hopis that he had spent much time with.

There is a lot of white plaster still intact here. Our group spent some time scanning the plaster for small images. There are two vertical zig zag snake like designs in the plaster but you have to look carefully to see them.

We noticed a large alcove directly across the canyon from the Fire Temple area but couldn’t see any structures. The possible explanation for non use is that this site doesn’t catch as much winter sun, but it is known as a Basketmaker, or early era site.
 

On the left side of the Fire Temple is a room with some pictographs on the wall. The images to the right are unusual and resemble Prickly Pear Cactus with flower buds. There are also some mountain sheep images. An early picture of these images also included some Kokopelli images that are now missing.

We had a discussion of how early visitors to these sites left historic inscriptions, but many of these were later considered to be graffiti and have been removed. It was speculated that the Kokopellis might have been removed for their phallic features.
 

The total hike to Oak Tree House and the Fire Temple took 2:50 hours. The tour is advertised as a two hour hike but the more leisurely 2:50 hour pace was appreciated by our group. In 2011 this hike is being offered May 29 to September 5 on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays for a cost of $20.

Sun Calendars Tour-Ute Mountain Tribal Park

The Sun Calendar Tour in Ute Mountain Tribal Park is a special tour of the Mancos Canyon area and is usually offered in late May. The tour starts at the main park entrance, south of Cortez in southwest Colorado. The tour focuses on special petroglyphs in the Mancos Canyon area. Most of these sites are near the sites that are visited on the regular tours.

The first stop is an isolated boulder not far from the park entrance. There is a four ring spiral on the south side, but it is the odd arrangement of the boulders that make this a sun observation site. From this point, the point where the sun rises and sets along the canyon rim through the year can be noted.

On the north side of the boulder there is a panel that includes several animal related figures. The tour included a stop at the Red Pottery Village, a stop that is also in the regular tours. The Red Pottery Village has several large rubble pile ruins sites and a tremendous amount of artifacts visible on the surface. This village may have been the center of the Mancos Canyon community at one point.
 

The Many Cliffs area is usually on the regular tour and has some small ruins sites and a petroglyph and pictograph panel. The Sun Calendar image of interest is to the left of the lower small ruins site on a triangular wedge of stone. There is a five ring spiral above a grid, with five tick marks below the grid. On the winter solstice, the moving shadow aligns with each ring and tick mark. The grid is thought to represent the farming fields.

The next site has the largest spiral that has been found in this area. The importance of these sun calendars is that the growing season here is barely long enough for the corn crop. The ideal planting time is a short time before the summer solstice. Planting too early could lead to failure due to a late spring freeze.

The winter solstice is a time for ceremonies. Much of the religious activity is thought to relate to rainfall and the planting and fertility of the crops. The area around the large spiral has other rock art and small ruins.

 The highlight of the sun calendar tour is the Butterfly site. A pointy rock directs a shadow across two side by side panels. The left panel is thought to represent the creation story and the right panel the emergence story.

The figures on the left include the spider, a spiral for the sun, the God of Land, thunder clouds, and a Kokopelli. These figures are symbolically touching. The thunder cloud image resembles a butterfly at first glance, but has five tick marks at the bottom, similar to the grid figure we saw earlier.
 

The symbols on the right are thought to represent the moon, the Evening Star i.e. planet Venus, several human figures, and the man made groove represents the place of emergence. Further to the right is a hole in the rock thought to represent the Sipapu connection with the earth that is also seen in some kivas. This panel could be 1500 years old, suggesting that these religious ideas have been constant for centuries.

The final stop was at Kiva Point, one of the regular tour stops. There is a short trail here. The trail visits several petroglyph panels, overlooks a great kiva, and there is a large display of pottery shards and other artifacts. Kiva Point is one of the most important areas in Mancos Canyon. The Sun Calendar tour focused on one of the petroglyph images that included many small dots. There is a pattern in these dots that suggests that this might be a yearly calendar, representing 365 days.

The tour I was on started at 9:00 AM and returned at 1:10 PM. The cost was $29 dollars and included transportation into Mancos Canyon.

Cliff Palace Kivas

Cliff Palace is the largest and most popular of the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado. From April to November, Cliff Palace can be visited on $3, one hour ranger guided tours.

The guided tours begin at an overlook point. From above, many of the visible rooms are the circular kivas. The current trail guide says that Cliff Palace has 21 large circular, partially underground rooms and 2 kiva-like structures. The usual tour has 3 stops. At the overlook there is an introduction to the site and some safety precautions.

The group then descends to the left side and discusses how the alcove structures fit in with the overall way of life in the region, and the theories of why the alcove structures were built and why they were eventually abandoned. At the final stop, the group gathers around a kiva on the right side and views the interior details. During the busy summers, the tours begin every 30 minutes and the groups are forced to keep moving.

Many of the Cliff Palace kivas are toward the back of the site or are surrounded by square walls and aren’t visible to visitors walking along the front of the site.

The trail guide describes one of the kivas as being at the center of Cliff Palace at the point where walls without doorways divides the site into two parts. This kiva or the partition hasn’t been pointed out on any of the tours I have attended; perhaps it isn’t easy to see at ground level.

Most of the Mesa Verde Kivas show a similar design. There are usually six pillars, or pilasters, to support the roof material. A deflector wall directs the incoming fresh air from the ventilation shaft around the room and away from the fire pit.

About half of the kivas have a small symbolic hole in the floor called the Sipapu. Some kivas have passage ways to other rooms. The usual entrance is through the roof. None of the Cliff Palace kivas has a roof but there are three reconstructed kiva roofs at Spruce Tree House.

Some kivas have a recess on one side giving a keyhole shape. The keyhole shaped kivas at the large Chaco Canyon structures in northwest New Mexico are pointed out as examples of Mesa Verde influence. Kivas are most often interpreted as of ceremonial purpose because current day Pueblo people use them that way. The explanation I like is that they were necessary for winter survival.

We mostly visit these sites in the warm part of the year, not when there are several feet of snow on the ground and temperatures are freezing. The underground arrangement provides insulation and conserves heat. The kivas are the only structures we see with ventilation systems. The recess areas could be for storage of food and fuel during a storm. The passage ways provide a way to get out without exposure to the elements.