Mesa Verde

Eight years ago today, we were not in Colorado. We were headed to the hospital to welcome the appearance of our youngest son into our family. Today, we awoke on this very special day with Isaac cuddling in our bed.

Mesa Verde means Green Table in Spanish. We were going to spend Isaac's birthday exploring the top and sides of this impressive mesa that had occupied the largest part of the southern horizon during most of our trip in the state of Colorado.

We have either acclimated to Mountain Time, or, we were so worn out by the late evening, that we blissfully slept in. We reached the park with what seemed like a line of 20 cars around 10:00 a.m. We were all ready to pay our $15 per car entry fee, but were waved through by the Ranger at the gate who explained that they were having a special “fee free” day today. What a deal!

Having read the guidebooks ahead of time, we knew that we should head for the Visitor’s Center to book our reservations for one of the guided tours. While in line (a very long line that wound outside the visitor’s center and 1/3 of the way down the path in front), we read the descriptions of the two most popular tours. Cliff House Tour consisted of an uneven stair descent and 5 vertical ladders of about 10 feet each. Balcony House Tour consisted of a 32 foot ladder ascent into the dwelling, a 12 foot crawl through a small tunnel and another 60 foot open cliff face descent to the exit. Given the response of two of our party to heights, we opted for the Cliff House Tour.

At $3 per person, we signed up for the 4:00 p.m. tour, picked up our Junior Ranger material and then headed out to score some lunch. Just up the road was a café and gift shop so we stopped there and had a bite to eat. The place was really empty which was a pleasant surprise. Given the amount of people cramming into the visitor’s center, we figured that anywhere we ate would be teeming with people. We ate in relative solitude in a large dining room overlooking the mesa and desert valley below. We left just as the place began filling up.

We then drove the 7 miles to the museum where we saw some really cool dioramas depicting the transition of the native lifestyle from one that was basically nomadic to a more stable, farming society with the pueblo cities built into alcoves in the rock face. The boys were the most interested in this part of the museum. The rest of the museum was cases and cases of artifacts that had been dug up at the site. The most interesting of these was the many uses for the yucca plant – Ross and I had no idea the plant was so versatile.

After skimming through the museum, we headed out on the self-guided trail to the Spruce Tree House, the best preserved pueblo site at Mesa Verde. We learned that the natives, who of course did not have the Civilian Conservation Corp created stairs and paved trails to walk to their villages in the rock, used hand and toe holds that they carved in the rock face to not only climb to their pueblos from the land below but also to climb to the top of the mesa to farm.

We read about the construction of the pueblo, the kivas – which were basically underground, multi-purpose rooms, and the way the natives used the plants and stone around them to make a way of life for themselves. We were especially impressed with one supposed use of the juniper tree bark as a diaper for their children. We studied a juniper tree pretty closely after that little piece of information. All we can say is, ouch.

We huffed and puffed back out of the Spruce Tree cave area (we were up around 8,500 feet – the highest we had been the entire trip) and went to the nearby café where we purchased a cool drink and relaxed. While there, we worked on the junior ranger booklets and enjoyed the shade of a patio umbrella and cool breeze. When that was over, we headed back to the museum to get the boys sworn in to receive their junior ranger badge.

Right in front of us was a family with three girls and a small, baby boy. We learned through conversation that they also were celebrating a family birthday as one of their daughters had just turned 7 a few days earlier. Isaac and the girl checked each other out as the adults discussed the pros and cons of July birthdays. The ranger in charge of swearing the boys in did a great job asking them questions and going over safety rules with them. After that he had a really unique swearing in ceremony.

“Raise your right hand and repeat after me,” he said. “As a Mesa Verde Junior Ranger, I promise to do all I can to help protect our national parks and all the resources they preserve. I will collect litter when I am out exploring and show respect for nature by not disturbing anything wild. I also promise to continue to explore, learn about, and respect the natural world wherever I go. Furthermore, I promise to bring every ranger I meet chocolate chip cookies.” This guy had a sense of humor – as well as a sweet tooth.

After that, it getting near time to go meet our 4:00 Cliff House tour guide. On the way there, we took a brief detour around the Mesa Top driving trail to look at the pit houses and early pueblos left by the civilizations that existed prior to the period where they dipped below the cliffs. Then, we headed for Cliff House.

Waiting there with us was none other than the family who’s daughters were sworn in as Junior Rangers just before us. After striking up a conversation with them and the waiting ranger, we discovered that they were from Wichita. He was in the military and they were doing a tour of the Southwest with their pop up camper. We also discovered that we had signed up for the same tour!

Ranger Robert Parker was our tour guide for Cliff House. This guy was a wonderful straight man with an extremely dry sense of humor. He was terrific. And, he picked Isaac out right away – mostly because Isaac had scoured the car for all of the ranger badges he had earned during his trip and lined them up in a row across the front of his shirt to wear on the tour. The site was earning looks from several members of the tour crowd.

Ranger Robert chose Isaac out of the crowd of around 45 people to be the official leader of the group. It was his job to lead the line of people to the first stopping point so that the ranger could stay behind, collect tickets and close the gate after the last family unit was through. He felt very important and we couldn’t have asked for a better recognition for his birthday.

The minute we headed down the stairs at the beginning of the trail, I knew that I had been there before. This was the very ruin that I remembered from my youth when we visited in the 70s. During that time, the tour was completely open to the public and was self-guided. While I missed the free-range provided by the earlier experience, I enjoyed having the tour guide – and probably learned more than I would have otherwise.

Ranger Robert taught us that the natives grew three crops that worked together to thrive in the environment on top of the mesa. They created earth dams that would trap the soil eroding from the top of the mesa as well as hold the water that was rolling down the hillside creating level fields to grow their crops. They grew corn that they planted deep into the soil so that it reached the water filled topsoil. They then planted beans which used the corn stalks as natural stakes to grow. And, to keep the water that did gather on the mesa top for as long as possible, they topped the whole thing off with squash plants which spread out and keep the ground shaded and prevent water evaporation. Smart people.

When the Ranger opened the floor up for questions, Isaac wanted to know how people went to the bathroom. Ranger Robert complimented him on his excellent question and explained how the tribes would normally designate an area below the sandstone alcove so that people weren’t going all over the place.

After we admired the architecture and the skill required to build it, we headed up the three ladders of the exit back to the mesa top. After that, we headed back down the mesa and back to the cabin.

While Ross took an early evening nap, the boys and I watched Dragonheart. This was a movie that I’ve seen many times, but it was a maiden voyage for the boys. Based on their complete silence and rapt attention throughout the film, I’m guessing that they liked it. After the movie, we all headed down to the lake again so the boys could fish. Peggy and Lee were out as well so while the boys fished, I chatted with our host and hostess.

Peggy and Lee Cloy are a great couple who originally hail from the north. Several years ago Peggy heard the siren song of this little acreage and coerced Lee into joining her six years later. Peggy is an artist who sculpts and has several items on display publicly. Lee is involved in several conservation efforts including the most current fight against a beetle that is actively killing the pinyon pines in the area. Willowtail Springs has been successful in containing the damage caused by this beetle.

The boys returned from fishing bragging that they had all caught a fish – almost at the same time. Ross came shortly afterward saying that it could not have happened better. Everyone caught a fish at the same time, they were all about the same size and all was fair and square. Peggy and Lee were delighted to hear it and talked to the boys for a while about their experience at the B&B.

After that, we headed back to the Cottage and, at Isaac’s request, topped off his birthday with a family trip to the hot tub. We spent about 20 minutes relaxing in the water and talking. After that the boys’ fear of the wild things on the property won out over their desire to sit in the hot tub so we went back to the cottage and went to bed.

Durango-Silverton Railroad

We can officially check this one off the list. The Hicks family has now ridden the Durango-Silverton narrow gauge railroad.

We took the 9:45 a.m. train for a 3.5 hour ride up the mountain through the San Juan National Forest following the Animas River as it winds its way down the mountain from points north of Silverton. We were in coach 40 and received a warm welcome from Mark the brakeman and Stella the concessionaire. Steve the conductor punched our tickets and we watched the scenery roll by outside our open windows.

We purchased a refillable souvenir mug at the train station and by the time the trip up the mountain was done, we had paid for it several times over. The snack coach was two cars up the train so I’m not sure if the boys were that thirsty, or if they just wanted to walk to the snack car several times.

We all took turns taking pictures out the windows. Otherwise, it was a noisy but relaxing ride as the train rocked back and forth on the track through some of the most photographed and filmed scenery in the United States.

We got off the train at the old mining town of Silverton now turned tourist trap and decided to eat at the Shady Lady Saloon and Café. The “family” restaurant was a converted brothel and bragged that it was the last brothel standing on the famous Blair street. The brothel’s reign ended in the 1940s when the last madam left, complaining that too many local gals were “giving it away for free” following World War II.

Since its close as a brothel, it would appear that the Shady Lady has lost a bit of its hospitality. We were bustled in and out like cattle, fed an OK lunch, and received very few smiles until we left. I guess they wanted to get us up and out quick so that we would spend more time – and money – in little Silverton.

After lunch, we headed down the street to Professor Shutterbug's to get an old time photograph taken of the family. Here, we were treated very well. After looking through the displays at the front, the boys decided that they wanted us to be “an outlaw family.” Professor Shutterbug himself took us on as his personal charges and got all of us dressed up in hats, chaps, shirts, vests and bandanas looking like we were in town for a raid of some kind. Ross and I got pistols to wear and we all got rifles to hold while Mr. Shutterbug took our picture. The boys decided that we shouldn’t smile. They were in seventh heaven. We got the pictures matted with Wanted Poster mats and headed out.
While we were walking back to the train station, Sam sidled up to me. “Mom,” he said. “I’ve made a decision. Instead of sports stuff in my room, I think that I want outlaw stuff.” The town had made a big impression.

Our tickets had us taking the 3:30 bus back down the mountain. This cut one hour off the trip and we felt beforehand that this was about the most the boys could stand on a passive activity like this one. We were happy about this decision. All the way back, the bus driver did an impressive continuous monologue weaving together stories, local folklore and factual information.

Ross wasn’t sure about the wisdom of some of the driver’s topic choices after listening to some of his stories at one point in the drive. We were driving through one rather scary stretch of road in this bouncy, weavey, humungous bus when he decided to tell all of us about the one thousand ways people have died on the roads up in this part of the mountain. I made the mistake of saying that this guy was one quarter information and three quarters B.S. in front of the boys. This prompted a philosophical family discussion about words, word choices and whether or not it is cussing if you abbreviate a phrase to its first letters. My sincerest apologies to anyone who suffers the consequences of this family discussion in the future.

When we finally landed back in Durango, we were ready to get back to our beautiful cottage. After a quick stop at Walmart to refill our food supplies and get a present for our soon-to-be 8-year-old, we returned to rural Mancos.

As it happened, we planned our vacation on the very weekend that the 6th Harry Potter movie opened world-wide. This was a serious problem indeed. When Sam and I got back to the cabin we changed out of our jeans, grabbed some food to eat from the fridge and headed to Cortez to get our tickets for the 9:00 p.m. show. Meanwhile, Ross and Isaac set up Isaac’s birthday i-pod, went for a canoe ride around the lake and watched a little TV while relaxing in the cabin.

We couldn’t decide if it was the rocking of the train, the carbon dioxide produced by the burning coal, the lack of physical activity, or the altitude but we were all ready for bed when we finally got there.

Zion to Colorado

Another day of driving. We took a slightly different path back through the desert to attempt avoiding the desolation that freaked us out a few days earlier. This time, we headed east on highway 89 through the Grand Staircase, past the Chocolate cliffs (which Ranger Kevin assured us did NOT taste like chocolate no matter what they looked like) and into Page, Arizona.

Just to the west of Page is Lake Powell and the controversial Glen Canyon Dam. On last year’s trip, we spent an afternoon in Chattanooga, TN watching an IMAX theater production about the water evaporation and drought caused by this dam. In Grand Canyon, the rangers talked about the effect the dam was having on the wildlife in and around the river. Tired of driving, we decided to stop at the dam for a look around and a brief out-of-the-back-of-the-car lunch. While inside the museum, we discovered that the park had a Junior Ranger program as well as a tour down into the dam. So, we decided, why not.

We had been doing all right with all the time zone changes until this moment in our trip. Interestingly enough, even though Arizona is on Mountain Standard Time (MST), the entire state has decided that they will not participate in Daylight Savings Time. As a result, for these few months of summer, Arizona – though on MST – follows the same time as California or Nevada. (Confused yet?)

We first encountered this problem while we were at the Grand Canyon, but it really didn’t matter as it just meant that we were able to be places really early. We had forgotten this little nugget of information while hanging out at the Glen Canyon Dam. We got there at approximately 12:00 p.m. MST. When we walked in, we noticed that a tour of the dam would be taking place at 12:30 p.m. What luck! We were just in the nick of time!

“Yes,” the Park Ranger behind the reservation desk informed me, “we do have an opening for four people on the 12:30 tour. (I could hardly believe our good fortune.) Just come back around 12:15 and there will be someone here to take your money.”

Rock on! I returned to Ross and informed him of the good news. “What? They want you to come back and pay in 5 minutes?” he asked. I looked at my phone – he was right, it was 12:10 p.m. “Guess so,” I said. So, in 5 minutes, I dutifully returned to the desk but had to wait a bit behind some other tourists. While waiting I glanced at the clock behind the counter. It said 11:15 a.m. “Duh!”

So, we messed around the bookstore, museum and parking lot for another hour finishing the Junior Ranger books until it was time to join Ranger Rob Gay for a tour of the dam. While chatting with Rob before the tour, we found out that his father grew up in Arkansas City, Kansas! I love it when stuff like this happens..

Ranger Rob was another terrific tour guide but the place was locked down like Fort Knox. We had to put everything but our wallets and water bottles back into the car to be able to pass through the security checkpoint at the beginning of the tour. A guard followed us throughout and we were instructed not to bring up the word “bomb,” “gun,” or other terrorist language as it would be taken seriously. We had already coached the boys about this particular rule while we were waiting for the tour to begin.

Rob took us down an elevator, through a long tunnel in the rock out on to the top of the dam. There he talked to us about how the dam was constructed. We saw the Colorado River head south on one side and we peered over the edge at the carp swimming close to the dam in Lake Powell on the other side. Then, it was down another elevator to the generator room another 500 feet down to the bottom of the dam. On the way there, we saw a man rappelling down the dam’s back. Rob told us that they did this on a regular basis to inspect how the dam was holding up. Looked like a pretty hot job to us. In the generator room, Rob told us all about how the water works together with the generators to make the electricity that is sold to 1.7 million customers in the desert area. Not one mention of the changes to the environment, but several mentions of the effects of drought and lots on water conservation. The cycles of wet and drought were also clearly explained as was the information that this is not the lowest the water level has been. God Bless the Rangers for the job that they do.

All together, we dropped 600 feet from the museum top to the generators. We had a moment of tension as we left the generator room when Isaac – our child who is fascinated by weapons of all kinds – made his way all on his own over to Ranger Rob to ask him a question. I quickly moved in to catch up with him in order to cover any damage that might be done. Instead, what he wanted to know was how they were growing grass just below the dam when it looked as if there was concrete everywhere. I relaxed.

Ranger Rob explained that the area leading to the generators housed the pipes that carried the water to the huge turbines. The water traveling through those pipes was doing so at a great speed. When water travels that fast, it shakes. So, they pack the area around the pipes with dirt to make sure that the water getting to the generators has slowed down and is a smooth as possible when it hits the spinning wheels. They plant grass on the top to keep the dust to a minimum.

On the way back, Ranger Rob had told the several boys on the tour that if they were good, he would howl like a wolf in the tunnel below the museum. They were and he did. It was a pretty good howl.

After the boys were sworn in as Junior Rangers of Glen Canyon National Park, we headed on toward Durango. We joined Highway 160 east of Page and spent the next few hours driving back through Kayenta, Arizona and Monument Valley on road that we had been on a few days earlier. At Teac Nos Pos, Arizona, we turned and followed Highway 160 north to the four corners monument and Colorado.

We of course stopped at the four corners monument to eat some Navaho Fry Bread, do a little bazaar shopping and get our picture taken on the flat topped monument where the four states meet. We waited until the monument was clear of people and also ran together all the way around the four states. It took us about 30 seconds, we looked like idiots, but we had a lot of fun. The boys spent some of their souvenir money here on official Indian weaponry (bow and arrow and a slingshot) and we bought a Christmas ornament from a local artist.

This stop was a little sentimental for me as somewhere in my childhood photos is a picture of me in my Kindergarten days with grandma, grandpa, mom, dad and Karl standing atop the very same monument grinning like gangbusters. We had taken a trip out to California in grandma and grandpa’s RV in the early 1970s. I don’t remember much about that trip. I was very young. But I do remember the picture.

We continued on through Cortez, Colorado and found our home base for the next three nights – the Garden Cottage on Willowtail Springs outside of Mancos, Colorado. This Bed and Breakfast is run by Lee and Peggy Cloy and is in the running for the best place we have stayed on this vacation. The Garden Cottage joined three other cabins housed on a 60 acre property with a catch-and-release bass stocked lake, canoes, birds, hiking trails, a hot tub, a black lab/chow mix named Rudy, cats, mule deer and bunnies.

Our cottage was surrounded by flowers of all kinds – some of which had been cut and placed in vases inside the cabin. The kitchen was well stocked with everything a person would need to cook a great meal – including a gas grill outside on a gravel picnic area. The inside of the cabin was basically one big room made out of 12 inch Walnut boards from Peggy’s grandfather’s homestead. The bathroom was the only room that had walls of any height, and even then, the walls did not reach the ceiling. The rest of the rooms were divided by half walls, split doors and partitions. The master bed was placed behind a wooden screen partition between the kitchen counter and the bed. The living area contained two chairs, a couch and a trundle bed. Off the living area was a deck with chairs and a hummingbird feeder allowing us to have a private view of the little guys as they fed each morning. Every wall had a window and the place was stuffed with antique furniture, books, art, movies and organic products.

Lee and Rudy met us at the door of the cottage (we called when we were outside of Cortez) with a friendly smile and warm eyes. He gave us a tour of the trickier parts of the place and showed us a refrigerator stocked with eggs, fruit, organic jams, organic apple juice and milk. On the kitchen counters were “a couple of things that Peggy picked up at the bakery this morning” – a loaf of whole wheat bread and two delicious looking huge bar cookies made at the Absolute Bakery and Cafe in Mancos, Colorado. In the bathroom were two white fluffy robes, shelves of soft looking red towels, and organic lotion, shower gel, soap, shampoo and conditioner.

When the tour of the cabin was over, Lee took us on outside to show us the dock, hot tub area, some of the trails and where the fishing poles and life vests were located. He introduced us to Rudy and explained that Rudy’s job in the family was to keep the deer and rabbits out of Peggy’s flowers and the bears, skunks, musk rats and mountain lions at bay. Rudy was a good dog.

The air conditioner was on in the cabin. By the time we unloaded the car it was so cool outside we shut it down and opened the windows. While the fresh air invaded the spaces of the cabin, we went back outside and took a short walk up the hill behind the barn to explore the little creek running just behind our windows in the woods and a brief boat tour around the lake in the quickly disappearing amount of light left in the day. After that, we headed back to the cabin for a wonderful night’s sleep among the peaceful sounds of the creek and the quiet sounds of the birds.

Bryce Canyon

Today we slept in. We were headed to the very top of the Grand Staircase – Bryce Canyon – and we figured that no matter what time of day up there we would see people and lower temperatures. We were right on both counts.

Bryce is about a two hour drive from Springdale back through Zion Canyon and north on Utah 9. We got to Ruby’s Inn just in time to sample from the Cowboy’s Buffet and Steak Room. The buffet of chicken, ribs, corn, potatoes and gravy, rolls, and full salad and desert bar was yummy and a nice change of pace from eating out of the stash in the back of the car.

We parked the car at Ruby’s Inn and rode the free shuttle into the park. By the time that we got there, they had closed the park to cars because of a fire that they were managing in the south end. In mid-June, lightening struck in an area that hadn’t been cleaned by a controlled burn for some time. The forest rangers had been watching the resulting fire closely as it cleaned up the underbrush in the trees. Apparently, the wind had picked the fire up and sent it across the road a couple of days earlier forcing the park service to close the south end of the park to tourists entirely.

Fortunately, this did not include the area where we wanted to hike. We picked up our Junior Ranger materials at the visitor center and sat through the 20 minute orientation video. We did a quick run through the museum and then headed out to the park for a 2:00 p.m. ranger talk on geology (yawn).

Ranger Kevin Poe was the geologist performing the 45 minute presentation. I chose the word “performing” on purpose as this was one of the most unique ranger talks that I have seen yet. Ranger Kevin should go on Saturday Night Live – or at least get his own TV show. This guy is passionate about rocks. But, he also realizes that talking about rocks doesn’t really get too many other people jazzed. So, he combines his information with snippets of 1960s and 1970s rock and roll to explain the geology of the Grand Staircase, and Grand, Zion and Bryce canyons.

We laughed and learned about a variety of things from this guy as well as enjoyed his re-written renditions of “Hound Dog,” “Knights in White Satin,” songs from Foreigner, “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay,” and “Can’t Buy Me Love.” This guy “rocked.”

From Ranger Kevin, we learned that Bryce Canyon isn’t a real canyon for one very important reason – there is no river running through the bottom of it. There is a creek bed, but it is dry most of the time and only contains water when the snow melts each year. Instead, the geological formations – or hoodoos – of this canyon are formed by the continual freezing and thawing of snow and ice over time. Because of the elevation of this canyon, it receives quite a bit of snow from September to May – over 200 days of water freezing, thawing and reshaping the rocks as the years go by.

From Ranger Kevin we also learned that in Zion Canyon the rangers get to wear shorts – but the administration in Bryce still thinks that shorts are “unprofessional.” We learned that what he really wanted to be was an astronaut. As a result, he developed an unhealthy addiction to Tang. We learned that he is attempting to talk the Zion administration into having the Moody Blues write and record a new theme song during one of the band’s reunion trips to Vegas. We learned that when you are describing the holes carved into the rocks which eventually widen to form natural bridges, you have to very carefully pronounce the phrase “ice hole.” We learned that when people call their Congressmen after hearing an inarticulate “ice hole” pronunciation, the ranger saying the word gets in trouble and you are told to use the word “window” instead. And finally, Ranger Kevin demonstrated for us how a dinosaur fossil is created complete with a one person reenactment of a T-Rex eating a duck-bill dinosaur. Ranger Kevin was cool.

After that standup routine, we headed out for the Queen’s Garden/Navaho Loop combination trail straight down into the “big ditch.” This trail was fanciful with tunnels, unexpected trees, plants and hoodoos that captured the imagination. We meandered down into the depths on well maintained sandstone paths that gave us a feeling of walking in a huge sand pile. We saw the queen perched on her throne, smiling at the tourists as we toured her castle gardens. We followed the dry creek bed at the very bottom past a weird combination of shady pine trees and sunny desert views. We climbed up and down slot canyons with bridges and hidey-holes carved into the side of the rock. The 3 miles went by quickly. Suddenly, we were back on top.

After that we caught the shuttle to Inspiration Point. Isaac’s legs had given out on him, so he and Dad stopped at the middle observation area. Sam, feeling very adventurous, said that he wanted to go all the way to the top. So he and I did. Viewing the canyon (I’m going to go ahead and call it that just because it is easier) from the overlook was like looking at a huge relief map of the hoodoo area of the park. We could see the queen at Queen’s garden trail. We could see pieces of the trail that meandered along the dry creek. We could see other trails split off and trace where they led. This place put our 3 mile hike firmly into perspective for Sam’s. “Wow Mom, we really walked a long way.”

From Inspiration Point, we rode a packed shuttle bus back to the Visitor’s Center for Isaac’s Junior Ranger badge. Then, we caught the shuttle back to Ruby’s Inn for dinner and the car ride back to Zion.

We went through several small towns on the way to and from Zion Canyon. Just like us, I imagine that there are several cars going back and forth through those towns several times a day. I’m also fairly sure that not all of those cars observe the speed limit. The locals have come up with a creative way to scare people into behaving. In almost every town that we went through, parked by the side of the road was a police car. Inside the car was a dummy, dressed as a cop, giving the appearance that you were in trouble if you didn’t slow down. We wondered how many people it fooled.

Back at the Lodge, everyone pretty much went to bed except me. I wanted to get the dusty laundry from the last few days of hiking washed so that we headed home with a carload of clean clothes. So, I spent a very quiet few hours finishing my book and the laundry at the same time.