Sinclair Snapshots

Day 22 Sunday, May 4th

Mesa Verde

Today the kids and I drove from Durango over to Mesa Verde National Park, about 36 miles to the west. At the Visitor's Center, we purchased tickets to 2 ranger guided tours of 1 hour each. The first was the Cliff Palace, the 2nd was the Balcony House. We proceeded then to drive thru the park to the sites, which was another 20 or so miles, taking about 45 minutes. It was definitely worth the time and effort to get there, but definitely remote.

Wow!

What a spectacular site this was.

Cliff Palace House

This is the view from above at the look out area. This is where we met the ranger who gave us the speech on site etiquette and safety instructions for descending and ascending the ladders.

80% of the cliff dwellings here are original, about 800 years old. The Ancestral Pueblo people came off the mesa tops to carve and build their homes here. The belief is that they did this when water became scarce on the mesa top, but more abundant in springs dripping from the back of the caves. They would carve niches out of the cliff face so they could continue to hunt and farm on the tops.

Talk about a dangerous morning commute.

(The ladder is the background is for the archaeologists)

The builders used basically "sticks and stones" to construct these multistory structures.

Adam really enjoyed talking with the ranger.

Look closely at the wooden beams. Can you see the little plugs that were removed? They used those to date the cliff dwellings.

The exterior and interior walls would have been covered with a "plaster" that would have decorated and painted.

The kiva is the round structure in the center. Usually had 6 pillars to hold the juniper tree branches to make the roof. 150 tree branches would have been needed to make 1 kiva. The whole helped to draw in fresh air for the fire.

They are monitoring the structures to ensure they remain stable on the cliffs. Due to the slope on which they were built, the fear is that the Cliff Palace will slide down the mountain.

We had to climb a ladder and traverse these narrow stone steps to enter and exit the site.

Look very closely to the rock in the very center. Do you see the small cuts into the rock? Those were how the cliff dwellers would have entered and exited their homes. Can you imagine that?

More ladders and steps.

Balcony House

Our next tour was extremely adventurous.

We climbed 3 long ladders; navigated a steep trail with some exposure on the cliff faces; and crawled through a narrow 12 foot long tunnel.

The view from Balcony House.

They had great views. The mountain peaks could be found in their pictographs on the walls.

Up we go!

Through a tight squeeze between the rocks.

Incredible!

The balcony may have given the small children a safe place to stay.

More hand and foot holds to climb.

Remember the kivas would have been covered with wooden roofs and plaster so they could walk on top of them, entering by way of ladder.

You can see the blackened walls where the fires have darkened them.

Peaking through the window into the next area.

Heading up and around into the next area.

The mountain peaks.

This is how we exited the Balcony House. I admit, I didn't take any pictures here. Too worried about getting myself up safely to stop and take a look around.

Once safely at the top, however, I did snap a few shots looking back down at those making their way up. Just a chain fence and a few small foot holds on the side of the cliff face. Makes my hands sweat just thinking about it.

Another look from the top.

Spruce Tree House

The last dwelling was a self guided tour, much easier to access.

Here Adam is demonstrating how they would have ground their corn by using 2 stones. It was impossible for them to separate the flour from the stone dust and so ingesting the dust would have taken its toll on them physically.

This is a replica of a kiva, where we could climb down inside of to see what it would have been like.

Very dusty inside.

The path to the top.

Day 21: Saturday, May 3nd

The Durango & SilvertonNarrow Gauge Railroad

The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge railroad runs on a 45 mile extension of track originally called the Silverton Branch. Narrow gauge track in Colorado was laid at a width of 3 feet 8 1/2 inches of separation with standard gauge rail. It was capable of making sharper curves,and thus more suited to the mountainous terrain.

All aboard!

We chose to ride in the open air "gondola" car instead of the traditional standard car. Thus, we dressed in many many layers anticipating the drop in temperatures as we reached Silverton at about 9,000ft.

This was the opening season ride for the train all the way up to Silverton after the winter, and so it was packed with many train buffs and passengers who had made this voyage annually for many years. It was like a giant reunion and party all rolled into one.

The young fella sitting beside me said his grandmother used to work for the railroad, and so he made the trip annually in her memory. It was his 17 year making the first run of the season. He was so knowledgeable of the train and the run. He told us when to get the camera ready too.

The trip was 3 1/2 hours up to Silverton.

Look at that bend in the track!

At one point, this was the view right below us!

Being a coal fired engine, we had quite the soot in our hair and eyes.

The benches and our clothing were covered as well.

Never wear white on the Durango & Silverton.

This is the Animas River.

The elevation change was about 3,000ft between Durango and Silverton.

We stopped here at the bridge to let several passengers off. It seems they were taking their ski/board gear up to the basin to ski.

This was the only way to access it.

The train doesn't run all the way to Silverton in the winter as there is too much snow accumulation and risk of avalanche.

You could see the work of the crew getting the track ready by clearing the debris and snow from the tracks.

Entering the town of Silverton.

The whole town came out to meet us, "the first run of the season."

There was a band playing, and folks lined up waving for miles.

Some folk were dressed up in period clothing.

It was superb!

We had lunch at Handlebars Restaurant and Saloon.

The nice men at the T-shirt shop instructed us in how to use a pencil to roll our eyelid up and use a tissue to dap the cinder from our eye. Remember, it's coal fired. Our eyes were full of the irritating pieces.

The train comes to a stop in the center of town.

One lady at the restaurant told us the town gets about 6 feet on snow on the roofs annually and they had to pay someone to get it off or the roof would collapse.

The return trip was also 3 1/2 hours long.

But equally enjoyable.

They turn the train around and you get to see what those sitting on the opposite side saw on the way up.

These two are game for just about anything I sign them up for.

They never know what I'll plan on these adventure trips.

Loving spending time with my girl.

Steam would be blown over this part of the river bridge as the sun would reflect on it and rainbows would form.

I was just amazed at how narrow it was in parts. Just 8 inches of clearance on either side at this point.

Don't stick your hand out.

Any especially, if you lean out to take a picture, look both ways before doing so, otherwise you might loose your head or camera.

The picture really doesn't do it justice. It's really a long, long way down to the river and the track seems just inches wide here. You can really look straight down and see the river below.