A Rainy Day on Wetherill Mesa | Learning & Living - Part 3

With the rain still lightly falling off and on, we headed to the west side of the park to explore Wetherhill Mesa. After driving the beautiful rainy landscape, we arrived at Wetherill Mesa. For the next four hours we walked the fully paved path just over five miles and enjoyed incredible sightseeing and our first looks at the famous cliff side dwellings of the Ancestral Pueblo people of Mesa Verde.

Despite having seen various photos of the cliff dwellings, as we arrived to our first stop I was completely in awe. Staring across the overlook at Long House the only words that came to mind were “that is so cool!” This would be the understatement of the day, but one I couldn’t help but repeat. 

While at the first overlook of Long House, a ranger was leading a tour across the canyon and the momentary pause in the rain left the air silent enough that we could hear parts of the guided tour echoing off the cliff walls. We learned that in its prime, the 298-foot sandstone alcove we were staring at held 150 rooms and 21 kivas, and this massive community was once inhabited by 150 to 175 people from 1145 to 1279 CE.

The sense of awe for the structures and everything that went in to their construction and functionality left my jaw dropped and my mind racing. For the remainder of our trip this would be the continuous feeling that I would be unable to shake. I kept trying to wrap my mind around the lives lived inside the walls of these incredible structures, and the realization of walking in the same spaces as those who experienced a completely different way of life. 

The spaces within the cliff dwellings were simple yet incredibly functional and ingeniously designed. Not only did the cliffs provide shelter from the elements, but they also allowed for rainwater and melting snow to flow down the back sandstone walls, emerging as a spring in the alcoves and providing a reliable water source directly to the people.

Further along the path, we enjoyed the next overlook which provided views of the split-level ruins of the Kodak House, a 60 to 70-room cliff dwelling community which includes 8 kivas and 14 communal areas, and can only be seen from a distance. As I stared across the 2.5 mile space between us and the Kodak House I was mildly amused to learn that yes, the Kodak House was in fact named after the camera brand. First surveyed and documented in 1891 by Gustaf Nordenskiöld, Nordenskiöld named the site Kodak House because his expedition cached its Kodak camera in one of the rooms.

Having seen the two main overlooks, we circled back on the pathway to the Badger House Community, a particularly unique site to tour thanks in large part to the covered conservation setups protecting the kivas and pit houses. The community consists of just over two miles of paved walkways through 600 years of prehistory. The four preserved sites include, Modified Basketmaker Pithouse, Developmental Pueblo Village, Badger House, and Two Raven House.

Unlike the overlook views of Long House and Kodak House, this community site felt different, and with the upclose proximity, more intimate. It was here, that the full story of the ancient architectural journey began to really click for me, and we finally learned what a kiva actually is. For starters, we learned that the Ancestral Pueblo people didn't start their lives in Mesa Verde building the park’s famous cliff dwellings; their first permanent homes were pit houses built on top of the mesas. These early homes began around 650 CE, and the 500-square-foot pithouse found at Badger House is one of the largest ever discovered in Mesa Verde. The home was dug four feet into the ground for natural insulation and was constructed with four posts in the floor and smaller slanting wall poles which supported a roof covered in brush, bark and adobe.

Pit houses weren’t the only dwellings in the Badger House Community. One interesting feature of the Ancestral Pueblo people is that homes were modified, expanded, destroyed and rebuilt to meet residents’ needs and changing fashions. This meant that archeologists would uncover overlapping walls within a single structure, showing evidence of distinct periods of construction over time.

Pithouses became sturdier, more circular and deeper underground. Adobe walls were later constructed and strengthened with bark, grass and sticks. After 1050, they began including masonry walls laid one stone thick. Later, around 1258, builders began using shaped sandstone blocks laid two stones thick in uniform rows, with a core of dirt and rubble fill to support larger rooms and multi-story structures. 

One such example of a structure that underwent various changes over the years was Two Raven House. Expected to have been inhabited for over 300 years (between 850 and 1150CE), this was home to 12-15 people at a time, and the architectural finds show the gradual transition from pithouse to kiva in Pueblo architecture.

While exploring the Badger House Community, we also learned about the construction of kivas, something we had already seen talked about on numerous informational signs but had yet to  understand. These sacred places were constructed from a circular pit and reinforced with masonry walls and columns to support wooden roofs. These open plazas contained ventilation and fire pits, and in some instances were connected by underground tunnels to taller towers. These tunnels would allow people to move from one location to another unseen and could even serve ceremonial purposes. The largest of these connecting tunnels in Mesa Verde is 41 feet long and was discovered in the Badger House Community. One area of the Badger House Community was the community center, built around 750 CE and containing a circular subterranean room more than 30 feet across. While smaller kivas were a common feature of villages, only eight great kivas have ever been found within Mesa Verde National Park. These monumental public centers provided a sacred space for villagers and nearby residents to gather and participate in ceremonies, dances, meetings and celebrations. The Community Center in the Badger House Community has been backfilled and parts were left unexcavated by archeologists to preserve the rooms within the structure, but just seeing the top portions of the walls was mind-blowing to take in. 

Learning about the various types of dwellings, Badger House Community and the Weatherill Mesa area showed an entire architectural progression, from those early pit houses to the intricate, multi-story pueblos we were looking at now. It was a display that showed evidence that the cliff dwellings were the culmination of centuries of ingenuity. As they were the last places the Ancestral Pueblo people lived before they moved from the Mesa Verde region around 1279 CE.

After stretching our minds around everything we had just learned we made our way back to the main parking lot of Wetherhill Mesa for a pause in the exploring and a chance to enjoy a picnic-style lunch looking out over the landscape and looming cloud formations overhead.

One thing about Wetherill Mesa was that each portion of the day built up to an even more incredible experience and gateway to learning about the past, and our post-lunch hike led us to the highlight of the day: visiting Step House. 

With just under a one-mile hike to northeast-facing alcove, Step House was a truly unique experience, as it offered a self-guided tour and the incredible chance to walk directly within a cliff dwelling. This particular house was nestled in a 300-foot-wide alcove and was occupied by two villages from different time periods, the first by people living in pit houses in the late A.D. 500s to 600s, and then again in the A.D. 1200s and was likely home to 30 to 40 people.

Looking at the cliff dwellings, it’s astonishing to even think of how people accessed them, let alone came and went on a daily basis while carrying food and tools. Most entries to the cliff dwellings consisted of hand and toe hold trails chipped into the rock as well as numerous wooden ladders. However, the people of Step House were a bit more advanced and constructed a stone staircase which, while not in use, is still visible, and is a how the dwelling got its name.

It was an incredible experience to not only see the cliff dwellings from the previous overlooks but to walk amongst Step House, knowing that centuries before, this was someone’s home was a humbling thought. Staring in awe of the structure, I couldn’t help but laugh, imagining one thought, “if they only knew that years after their passing, people would be in awe just touring their living room.” As if seeing the structure wasn’t incredible enough, inside one of the walls of Step House is a set of petroglyphs chipped into the rock, depicting animals, plants, humans, and geometric designs one final beautiful message left behind from an ancient community.

Having enjoyed a full afternoon of exploring, we headed back to the campground for our traditional campsite happy hour and a plan to pack up our now, hopefully dry, tent and resort back to our iKamper for the night in case more rain came into play (which it didn’t). 

There is no doubt that the sandstone cliff dwellings were the anticipated sights for this park visit, but what I wasn’t expecting was the vibrant contrast of lush forest that not only surrounded the cliffs but masked them completely. Driving the road through the park, with greenery as far as the eyes can see, you’d never know that sandstone cliff dwellings were just around the corner. At any point it was easy to consider that the landscape views at the cliff dwellings and those we enjoyed during the drive through the park were two completely different locations, rather than in the same park. 

Back at our campsite and our sleeping accommodations relocated off the ground for the night, the day came to a close with a delicious salmon dinner and watching a deer eat berries off a nearby tree. Much later that night, with rain clouds finally dispersed, the dark evening sky provided full views of the starry Milky Way stretching out overhead. Combined with the days history lesson, it all served as a reminder of just how small we are in the vast expanse of time and space. 

Staring up at the sky and taking in everything we’d experienced in only our first full day at the park, I couldn’t help but recall a conversation I overheard between a couple earlier in the day. A woman, turning to her husband, said, "Well, here we are, finally for a couple of days to solely enjoy. This weekend it's all about living and learning." And with that, the name for this very blog series was born.