Mexican Hat, Utah - Valles RV Park 8/07 - 8/09 2020 Travel Tour

 From: casarollnotes.blogspot.com 

                                                                       Tim and Linda Bunyan

From Mesa Verde, Colorado to Mexican Hat, Utah we have arrived by the only road through Mexican Hat, Highway 163  to Valles RV Park (Full hookup $35.00/night) in Mexican Hat,

a small village on the San Juan River (which originates in the San Juan Mountains on Southwestern Colorado) on the northern edge of the Navajo Nation's borders.

The population of Mexican Hat, Utah is 31.  The elevation is 4,244' .   It was cooler (80's) in Mesa Verde at an elevation near 8,000'.  It is about 20 degrees higher temperatures here.   We are a stop away from Lake Powell and we are yearning for a boat ride on the water especially during these hot days.  

Besides providing a base to explore the surrounding scenery, the town is also popular as the start (or end) point for rafting trips along the San Juan River.  Rafting trips begin from Mexican Hat downstream to the upper end of Lake Powell, exiting via the Plute Farms Road near Monument Valley.  

We order pizza to go and gather with Mike&Sherry and Ron&Fran for some good dining.    The registration desk and the Pizza Cafe for Valles RV Park is one of the same.  The man greets us and checks us in an RV site and hands us a menu.   Our three RV's are the only filled RV sites.  We have full hookups and running the air conditioner much of the day.  We are happy to have full hookups as the heat continues to be with us.

READING: The Black Stallion reigns yet rears up at the incongruent; remains in a smile position making all those who cluster happy.  On the quest of picture-perfect lacking defects or flaws; ideals exact and correct.  

A READING: As the Rocky Mountain delivers water to our homes, we flourished as we have traveled along its course,

Happy to be an accompaniment in the stream of life.

We've remain fortunate and protected from ravage and fear as we honor the Resource of our being as a witness to all that surrounds our daily lives.

The "Black Knight" is led with vigor.  Love is the fuel in their journey on paved, and unpaved roads. 

Imagine doing all this in meakness and in health!

We get to live like this coming and going with people we know.

This history and tales of friends.  It's a bit of a Party every day and night.

The Mexican Hat popped into our view from the highway as we drove in on U.S. Highway 163.  It is named after the sombrero-looking formation.   The formation is 60-foot diameter caprock is comprised of Cedar Mesa sandstone.  The base is red siltstone and shale of the Halgaito Formation.  The ancient Cutler rock layers over 300 million years old were laid down by the recurring rising and falling sea levels of an ancient marine environment.

We take a walk from our RV site to a spectacular landscape of the San Juan River that runs along with the village of Mexican Hat, Utah.  This is a place to walk in beauty.  The film "Stagecoach" was filmed in this area.

The sun is setting against the deep, layered cliff walls that glisten from the sun and are reflected in the San Juan river below.   The greenery along the water's edge contrasts vividly with the swirling reds and grays of the canyon walls.

We are glad to take a walk nearby and outside, next to the San Juan River, with a gentle breeze the hot weather is not so oppressive.

READING: Our perspectives represent our unique national view; the objective is honed throughout our experiences which are the frameworks to organize and understand the world.

The cliffs of Mexican Hat, Utah.  Most of the surroundings are BLM land south of the river is the Navajo Reservation.   As much of our Travel Tour 2020 route, the San Juan River originates as snowmelt in the San Juan Mountains (part of the Rocky Mountains) of Colorado, it flows 383 miles through the desert of northern New Mexico and southeastern Utah to join the Colorado River at Glen Canyon (Lake Powell).

We are exploring the local landscapes.  Gooseneck State Park a few miles to the northwest of Mexican Hat is one of the best examples of entrenched meanders in the world.  It windes 5 miles yet stretching only one mile as the crow flies.

The San Juan River twists and turns through the meander flowing west on its way 

to Lake Powell.  

Above the sinuous river meander known as a gooseneck, the park affords impressive views of one of the most striking examples of an entrenched river meander on the North American continent.

300 million years of geological activity is evident as the San Juan River winds and carves its way through the desert 1,000 feet below.  The San Juan River is a major tributary of the Colorado River.  It provides the chief drainage for the Four Corners region of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona.

There is a tourist van parked next to picnic tables on the canyon top.  A couple had the use of this tour all to themselves.  We had our own personal tour of our own in our Tundra.

Not far from Gooseneck State Park, we take our personal tour approach straight north on Highway 261 to the Moki Dugway.  The highway is part of the Utah section of the Trail of the Ancients, a National Scenic Byway.  

We watch for Falling Rocks and all rocks!  Some scenes of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"were filmed in this area.

The switchbacks traverse the Moki Dugway.

Mexican Hat on the far horizon, 38 miles.  The Moki Dugway was constructed in 1958 by Texas Zinc, a mining company, to transport uranium ore from the "Happy Jack" mine to the processing mill in Mexican Hat.

We head back to our RV site to discover Ron in his 

Ram Truck Black Knight drove the Moki Dugway today too!

Ron was very proud of his Ram Truck and 4-wheel Black Knight proven road warrior!

Time slows down here, this is untouched, protected, and preserved.  We went out on the town at the "Hat Rock Cafe" where only beer or wine is licensed.

Tim and I drove around 'the hood' our last day here to find residences on the Indian Reservation.  Some of the houses were vandalized, with other happy families living inside.  This community sign has been painted over.  Our waitress told us her story of house funding from the Navaho Nation for a house on half an acre for $1,200.  She and her husband and grandmother are saving up in order to build a house.

Here is one example of "the hood' with some housing.  We saw other homes in Monument Valley where acres were provided for those ranchers or sheep keepers.  Plenty of power and water is provided.... not a problem.

It is time to continue our 2020 Travel Tour to Lake Powell.  Ron&Fran and Mik&Sherry have been along on this travel tour since June and they must return to their 'sticks and bricks' houses to resume their life business.  Mike&Sherry are selling their HighCountry 5th wheel to replace it with a Grand Design they must define and order.  Ron&Fran are returning to family in their Las Vegas House and then on to their Reno House to take an SYC boat cruise for Labor Day!   On to seeking still waters!

Cortez, Colorado-Mesa Verde National Park/Morefield CG 8/2 - 8/7 2020 Travel Tour

 From: casarollnotes.blogspot.com 

Tim and Linda Bunyan

Tim and I (and Woodstock) are settled in this sparsely populated, secluded canyon in Mesa Verde

National Park: Morefield Camp Ground.  (NPS-Aramark).  The elevation is 8500' which the weather is equal at

 a pleasant high of 85 degrees.  There is a breeze, so Tim is not planning to bring out the generators for air conditioning.   Choose your own campsite.(visitmesaverde.com)

The restroom and freshwater outlet are just next to us so Tim can refill our water tank with some 

amount of ease.

 

 

Life is good and Woodstock is happy to be here in an open range setting with some shade trees and deer that have proven this is their comfort zone as their water is an irrigation ditch up the hill and walk thru our campsite where they frequent.

Mule Deer.

 Tim and I first go to the Visitor Center.

   It is closed but the book store is open with a dozen visitors allowed inside at one time.

  We pick up map booklets of this Mesa Verde which is Spanish for "green table".    The mesa is an erosional remnant rising 1,500' to 2,000 feet above the surrounding Dolores Plateau.

This archaeological preserve is the nation's largest 

and features 5,000 known archaeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings,.  

Cast Bronze 20' 2" sculpture by Edward Fraughton, "The Ancient Ones" 

Explore and enjoy the peaceful surroundings here at Mesa Verde National Park.  This place was established by United States President Theodore Rosevelt on June 29, 1906.  

It is the only national park in the United States created to preserve Ancestral Pueblo culture and prehistoric architecture. 

 It preserves an extraordinary record of Pueblo people who made Mesa Verde their home

 for over 750 years, from A.D. 550 to A.D. 1300.

Park Point Fire Lookout Tower.  The highest point in Mesa Verde National Park Elevation 8,572 feet.  With a view from the resistant north rim cliffs of the Point Lookout Formation: 

is Sleeping Ute Mountain to the west.  Seen from this angle, (below) it has the face profile of a sleeping human figure and is prominent in Ute Indian folklore. 

 The mountains are the result of volcanic rock overlying sediments about 65 million years ago when the region was subjected to uplift.

To the East, in the Montezuma Valley is the now the (coal burning) Four Corners Power Plant and the San Juan Generating Station.  This is a place to go back in time.  We explore ancient dwelling,; foundations of early household living.

With the creation of Mesa Verde National Park in 1906, it became evident that it contained "one of the grandest and expansive views in the country".

The National Park Service cooperates with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the BLM to protect the park and surrounding lands from potential wildfires.

The Fire Ranger looks for fires, especially after thunderstorms.

The Lookout was built in 1939 by the CCC. (Civilian Conservation Corps.)  Lookout Rangers share views with visitors in 1958.

Tim at Park Point Fire Tower Lookout--Travel Tour 2020

Panoramic views, history, culture, and scenic beauty.

Mesa Top Loop Drive - Personal Adventure  (due to Covid, guided tours were not available)
Tim and I go on our own driving tour which includes short paved walking trails.  We see surface dwellings and views of 6 cliff dwellings.

 

1920 Park Superintendent Jesse Nusbaum constructed new facilities inspired by noted Southwest architects John Meem, Mary J. Colter (Grand Canyon), and Issac Hamilton Rapp based on original Pueblo buildings.

The Historic District:

Park Headquarters and Book Store.

Windows and doorframes are carved with geometric forms reminiscent of those found on Ancestral Pueblo pottery.  Light fixtures and carved furniture display the talent of the Civilian Conservation Corps. (CCC) in 1930.

No bus tours; so no loading and unloading (vacant parking lot); due to Covid.  During this Covid-Avoidance 2020 Travel Tour, we found limited access to Visitor Centers and Museums; however, most hiking trails remain open for our own personal tours.

We discovered this balcony on the backside of the historic administrative office where we quietly viewed our first site of Mesa Verde cliff dwellings.

There at the bench, provided by our lovely National Park Service, the best and most beautiful view.  We sat, humbled, at our view of Spruce Tree House the best-preserved cliff dwelling in the nation.

These people lived on Mesa Verde for 700 years.  They built their large cliff dwellings only during their last 100 years; then they gradually left.

There was a Park Ranger there at this balcony; looks that he is contemplating the same.

Classic Pueblo-era cliff dwelling.

Ancestral Pueblo people lived here during the mid A.D. 1200s.

Back at Morefield Campground, Ron&Fran in their Imagine RV and Black Knight Ram Truck are enjoying the peaceful surroundings at the campsite.

Mike is busy tending to his 'house' the High Country on preventative maintenance.

He is sanding the hitch connection on the 5th wheel.

Frannie brings flowers to 'the good table'!

Mesa Top Loop- we downloaded the Mesa Top Loop Audio Tour App

Personal Tour along the six-mile Mesa Top Loop Drive reveals the full range of architecture at Mesa Verde.  From the earliest pithouses to the latest cliff dwellings.,

Ancestral Puebloans lived here for more than six centuries, 

from around A.D, 600 until about 1300.

The first permanent homes were partially underground, ensuring they were cool in the Summer and warm in the Winter.  Although most visitors to Mesa Verde come in Spring and Summer, the Ancestral Pueblo farmers were used to the year-round cycle of seasons.

The Pithouse (A.D. 600) built modest dwellings--shallow its dug into the ground.  About A.D. 600.

Aboveground dwellings were in a series of rooms.  From a foundation of shallow slab-lined pits, the walls of these rooms were built up of a lattice of wooden poles plastered over with mud. 

About A.D. 850.

Circular often associated with a kiva.

This collection of rooms is most likely extended family.  Several living and storage rooms surrounding a kiva and courtyard--known as a "unit Pueblo' represent a type of family home of the late A.D. 1100.

Without beasts of burden or wheeled vehicles, they carried tons of stone, soil, and water by hand to build elaborate multi-story buildings.  

The Ancestral Pueblo people were sophisticated builders using the simplest of technology.  Without worked metal, they used stone, wood, bone, and leather to make digging tools, axes, knives, and small tools for fine work.  

With simple surveying tools, they often aligned structures with cardinal directions, local landmarks, and celestial events.

This Reservoir was built in at least two phases beginning about A.D. 900.

Complete protein filled with the combination of squash, beans, and corn.

This village was constructed long before Mesa Verde's famous cliff dwellings.

We came upon the Ute Indian Mountain Tribal Soda Park.  Husband and wife from the Ute Tribe selling jewelry.  (Covid, the soda counter was closed.)

 Purchase of the Kok0pelli, the God of Harvest and Plenty; presides over both childbirth and agriculture.

Cliff Palace

The crown jewel of Mesa Verde National Park and an architectural masterpiece is the largest cliff dwelling in North America.  The Ancestral Pueblo people decided to move into the cliff-side alcoves about A.D. 1200 and build elaborate and expensive structures like Cliff Palace.

Around A.D. 1200, some of the people then living on Mesa Verde moved away from their mesa top fields and into the cliffs and alcoves, often re-occupying sites that had been inhabited by their ancestors 600 years earlier.

Tim and I, at Navajo Canyon, took more than a moment to observe the world of mesas, canyons, and expansive views where the Ancestral Puebloans who lived here for over 700 years.

The construction of Cliff Palace was in the 20 years between A.D. 1260 - 1280.  Basic raw materials are abundant  Sandstone and mortar ingredients.

We have discovered a place that time has forgotten here at Mesa Verde National Park

 a World Heritage Site!

We are departing this special place.  We are excited to be on our way to Lake Powell for some water recreation via Indian Reservation country.

A historical landmark in San Juan County.   To Protect and Preserve, the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation Four Corners Monument is closed until further notice due to Covid.

This is the only place where four states meet and share a region:

 Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah.  

This also marks the boundary between two semi-autonomous Native American governments, the Navajo Nation, which maintains the monument, and the Ute Mountain Tribe Reservation.  The monument is located on the Colorado Plateau, approx 40 miles southwest of Mesa Verde.