Cliffs and Cliff Dwellers: Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP and Mesa Verde NP

Pano of the Gunnison River...but it’s impossible to capture the depth of the canyon and the sheer cliffs.

We left the mountainous (and rather snowy and cold) peaks of the Grand Tetons and headed south. Our schedule gave us about 15 days until we had to be in Las Vegas for a flight back east to attend Travis’ and Jessica’s wedding, so we mapped out some adventures in western Colorado and southeast Utah. First stop: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Never heard of it? Apparently, it is one of the less frequently visited parks, and as we discovered, one of the Park Service’s hidden gems. We camped at the South Rim, where most of the hikes and camping opportunities were located. Black Canyon is a rather small national park, but don’t let that fool you. It has big views and fun hiking opportunities and is well worth a visit, even if it’s a short one. We only spent a day there, but loved every part of it, squeezing in three hikes. The best hike was down the side of the canyon along the Gunnison Route to the river. There are three routes into the canyon to the river, all steep, and all require a Park Service permit. They call it an unmarked route since the Rangers do not maintain it as a trail. It descends 1600 feet along a path about 1.5 miles long. Part of the path has an 80 foot chain secured to the canyon wall to help hikers scrabble down (and back up). We were not deterred by the Park Ranger’s warnings about how much it costs to be rescued, and headed out for what turned out to be one of our most memorable hikes. It definitely makes our to-be-determined “Top Ten” hikes. The hike down offered some cool views and a few nut-clenching sections. At the bottom the views from the Gunnison looking up at the towering walls of the canyon were just as spectacular. We explored a bit along the banks of the rapidly flowing before the ascent back to the rim. It was a memorable way to spend a morning.

The visit to the Black Canyon was sweet, but short, and we headed south again bound for Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde (translates to “green table”) is the first US national park established to primarily preserve cultural and archaeological site. About 1300 years ago Puebloan people established settlements on top of Mesa Verde to farm the relatively fertile soil. Then in the late 12th century, they began building homes in large alcoves just beneath the rim of the mesa. The scientists and historians don’t really know why families decided to do this…so we made up our own theories. Dawn’s theory is that a small group of Puebloan teenagers were the first to climb down to the alcoves below the mesa clifftop to “ef (escape farmwork) off”. It was cool under the mesa rim, and there was water in “seeps” that filtered through the sandstone layers on the mesa top. Of course, the slackers were eventually caught, and while they were getting a good hide thrashing, it occurred to their ‘rents that it might be a good place for the entire family to set up house. It’s just a theory. In any case, we took a couple of ranger led tours of these cliff dwellings. It was super interesting to see how much is still preserved, including food preparation areas. As we marveled at the unusual dwellings we were also left puzzled by the relatively primitive lifestyles of these people. Although there was much to admire about their farming and building techniques, we couldn’t help pondering the vast differentials in civilizational development; at the same time that the Puebloans were living in pit homes and building basic adobe brick structures, some even nestled into cliffs, the Europeans and Chinese were constructing palatial castles with moats, and signing the Magna Carta. The Mesa Verde petroglyphs hammered into the desert varnish on cliff sides were fascinating, but this very simple art or picture writing cannot compare to the European or Chinese masters of the 12th to 14th centuries, or even the ancient Egyptian, Roman, and Chinese civilizational achievements of 2000 to 4000 years ago.

A “kiva,” sort of a living/community/spiritual room.