Visit Los Alamos

When people think of visiting New Mexico, the cities of Santa Fe, Taos, and Albuquerque quickly come to mind, usually in that order. But the most historically significant place in New Mexico is a little known town that permanently changed the world.

Los Alamos is the birthplace of the atomic bomb. For years it was a closed city; a large military installation cloaked in secrecy. The major employer is still the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Groundbreaking physics continues, but so does cutting edge research in biology, astrophysics, and genetics. It's no longer all about bombs, but there are still plenty of secrets.

Outside of Los Alamos, people may try to discourage you from visiting by telling you the water is radioactive or the people are crazed warmongers. The secret is – that’s not true.

The Pajarito Plateau

The city sits on five finger-mesas of the Pajarito Plateau, formed during the last eruption of the Jemez Volcano, 1.1 million years ago. To the east is the lush valley of the Rio Grande River. Surrounding the city is national forest land, Bandelier National Monument, and tribal lands belonging to San Ildefonso Pueblo. Thanks to the high altitude, summers are pleasant with cooling afternoon thunderstorms, and the area is populated with ponderosa forests full of wild flowers and boletus mushrooms. Consequently, Los Alamos is the mountain biking capital of New Mexico, with hundreds of miles of hiking and biking trails, many of which become cross-country ski trails in the winter.

Ashley Pond and Fuller Lodge

Most of us like to travel to learn about the world. If you have an interest in science and history, then Los Alamos should definitely be in your travel plans. The interesting sites are centrally located so seeing the little city on foot is fun and easy. Spring-fed Ashley Pond is the center of town. The original laboratory was located around the pond but it has transformed into a lovely park with commemorative plaques. The Laboratory is now located on the other side of a deep canyon.

The Bradbury Science Museum is filled with facts on the development of the atomic bomb, and the subsequent impact on human history. The library, designed by famed architect Anton Predock, is excellent and a cool stop on a hot summer day. A local non-profit, the Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC) provides hands-on programs for adults and children year round. Pick up a walking tour map of the city at the Historical Museum and stroll through history. The museum is next to famous Fuller Lodge, home of the original boy’s school, taken over by Dr. Oppenheimer when he conceived of a secret location to develop the bomb.

Beautiful scenery nearby,
this is the Capilla de la
Familia Sagrada at the base of
Black Mesa.

The bright yellow bus zipping around town is a tour of the city and the labs. Georgia Strickfadden is an excellent guide with an encyclopedic mind for history. Tickets can be purchased at the Otowi Bookstore next to the Bradbury Museum. Bandelier National Monument, an interesting pre-historic town occupied by Pueblo people was abandoned 800 years ago. It is accessible only by taking free buses leaving nearby White Rock at regular intervals. In Los Alamos, a car isn’t essential. On weekdays, buses run frequently around town including White Rock, and they’re free.

The best value for the night is the North Road B&B. For the price of a regular hotel room, you’ll get a suite with a kitchen, plus a cooked breakfast. The restaurant scene contains a number of international cuisines as well as local fare; buffalo burgers, New Mexican enchiladas with red or green chile (say “Christmas” if you want both), sopaipillas, and chiles rellenos. And for music all summer long, the local businesses sponsor the Gordon Concerts on Friday evenings, a giant free street-party with excellent bands (like the Red Elvises) from around the country.

New Mexico Fire Lessons

Dorothy Hoard

In Los Alamos, New Mexico, there is an organization - The Pajarito Environmental Education Center, known widely as PEEC. It was started in earnest after the horrendous Cerro Grande Fire in 2000 which burned more than 400 homes and put 1400 people in search of a new place to live. At that time, the fire was the largest in New Mexico history, but just last summer in 2011, another fire blew up in the Jemez mountains and swept towards Los Alamos at a fast pace, causing the town to be evacuated. Fortunately, much was learned after the 2000 fire. Back fires were set along major roads which were only possible because of an evening shift in the wind direction. Those back fires prevented the big fire from entering the town. New growth during the intervening eleven years went up in flames. That fire was the largest in New Mexico history, burning approximately twice as much land as the Cerro Grande.

This summer, 2012, a fire started in the Gila Wilderness in southern New Mexico and it is the largest in history, burning about four times the land area of the Cerro Grande.

This past Saturday, I went on a PEEC sponsored hike to see American Springs with naturalist Dorothy Hoard, author and guide extraordinaire. Along the way we could see trees that survived the Cerro Grande standing alone among the grasses. Below them were aspens that had regrown and were about eight feet tall. Last summer they burned again. Now tiny little aspens are a foot tall, growing from the ancient roots of their family, and fed by seeps like American Spring.

Dorothy reflected in the waters of American Spring

The actual spring has a concrete containment built around it, to hold the water in for a while before it seeps on down the hill. The containment was built sometime in the 1930's when a logging company needed water for its operations. Now there is about six inches of water and while it's not accessible to most animals, the larger grazers can put their heads through the hole for a drink. Other small seep puddles are open for the racoons, skunks, and squirrels.

Dorothy knows almost every plant; which are indigenous and which are invasive. She knows the geology of the entire region, and is an encyclopedia of information.

PEEC runs walks, tours, summer camps, and classes for adults and children all year round. Recently the county council agreed to spend four million on a new building to house the program. Up till now, PEEC has been run with donations of money and time, and was housed in an old elementary school building. Having a new expanded facility, which will include a planetarium, will allow PEEC to offer many more adventures in the quest for knowledge.

PEEC's website is here: http://www.pajaritoeec.org/

And of course, continued donations are gladly accepted, volunteers are welcomed.

Some dead trees from Cerro Grande (the sticks) and
some from last years fire (with branches still).

New growth around
last years burned dead aspens.

Portions of forest that survived two devastating fires.

A few Ponderosas that escaped
both fires, and are now "Mother"
trees for the forest.

Travel and work

A close look at finances and long term goals reveals a large disconnect. How to go round the world, slowly, sensuously, living comfortably, and still have enough money upon return to live to the end of a ripe old age?

Pond reflections

Without getting into tedious monetary detail, suffice it to say that spending large amounts of cash on hotels, restaurants and trinkets cannot be the way I get around the globe in a 2 year period. What other options are there? If I were a great writer, I might be able to write travel articles and sell them to magazines and e-zines on the web. If I were a great photographer, right up there with the best from National Geographic, I could perhaps venture into the wilds and snap action shots of tigers or polar bears.

With the right skills I might get together a clientele of companies needing web design and maintenance, something I could do from where ever I can find fast WiFi or Internet connections. Unfortunately, I don't have those skills....

Since my career was working for a National Laboratory, holed up in secure facilities, working on projects that required a Q-clearance, even with the right software, I doubt anyone there would be willing to allow me to work on designs outside the cloister. So electro-mechanical design work is out.

What to do? I looked over my skillset. I can use computers, as can most everyone under the age of 40 around the world. I speak English, but I am not a teacher although I could probably learn to be by taking an ESL training class.

I can cook. I can paint. I can clean. I have all the skills of a third world maid but probably not all the skills of a third world handyman. Hmmmm. This is not looking good.

But I also pay attention and I've run across Facebook sites like MarriedWithLuggage. They are a couple who sold everything they owned with the idea of taking a 5 year trip around the world, and coming home when they run out of money. However, after almost a year, they discovered they truly love the lifestyle and are now focused on finding ways to extend their money and make a living while living at large in the world. Through them I learned about TrustedHouseSitters.com. And from a friend in Australia, I learned about WOOF, Workers on Organic Farms. I'm afraid my black thumb would disqualify me from life as a farmer, however, on the WOOF website, there was a link to WorkAway.com.

So I joined WorkAway and set up a profile describing my skills. The way it works is that people who are willing to put up a traveler and feed them for a period of time, can take their pick of dozens of applicants who'd like to have that opportunity. The traveler puts in about 20 hours of work a week, and the host assists him/her with sightseeing and the local culture. It's as much a cultural exchange as it is a work situation. In fact the site says that this activity should not be viewed as a way to get free labor. Since no money is exchanged, neither party has to worry about work visas or taxes.

The hosts can put up a profile on WorkAway for free, the people wanting to work are the ones who pay a fee to join the site. As luck would have it, I found a WorkAway gig in Cambridge, MA for the month of November. A woman who lives near Harvard wants a little painting done, and would love for me to cook a few meals, maybe teach her something about Thai and Mexican cuisines.  That will be my first foray into the WorkAway world. And there are many more possibilities in all the countries I'd like to visit. My rough plan is to go to Mexico again and live in San Cristobal, Chiapas for a few months, to study Spanish and finish the explorations I'd started in April. After that, I'll start around the world.

Other interesting places on the web are the "Round The World Ticket" sites:  JustFares.com, Airtreks.com and Around-the-world.com. Star Alliance also has round the world fares. I have yet to buy the ticket, but as I understand it you can buy a ticket to go one way around the globe, choosing the places where you want to stop over. The price depends on the number of stops you chose. A fellow I met on a rafting trip recommended I stop over only at the big world hubs like Singapore, London, Mumbai. That way, I can take round trips on local airlines to places like Australia and New Zealand, Thailand, all over Europe, maybe even Africa. The local airlines are usually cheaper and more frequent than major carriers.

Sammy and Sophie

I also joined TrustedHouseSitters. Although I've not gotten any gigs from them, I have my own experiences house-sitting for friends. Those friends have written recommendations that should help me to secure places to house-sit around the world too. The couple from MarriedWithLuggage has done this quite often and found several great places to stay and take care of pets in Europe. WorkAway seems to be much more global in its scope as is WOOF. And of course, the more people you know, and the more they know about you and your availability, the more of these kinds of opportunities arise.

For the last couple of weeks, I took care of a house in Taos (see the previous several blogs) and got my "Dog-Fix" with Sammie and Sophie. I'd always wanted to live in Taos. It was a great chance to spend real time there, see how people actually live, experience all the wonderful art. If I were to spend more than a month or two, I'd have to take some art classes, get involved with a ceramics studio or find a part time job in a gallery. Skimming the "tourist surface" wouldn't cut it for the long haul.

The Taos House

My friend's place is gorgeous but required a lot of time watering and maintaining. The dogs were well behaved after they learned the boundaries that I set, and we got along just fine. It was a wonderful two weeks, but now it's time to move on to the next thing, which is to find a renter for my furnished condo in Los Alamos, and head off to Massachusetts and beyond.

Sophie's yard, just gorgeous.

5 Museums, $25

Bedroom in the Fechin House Museum.

Fechin's Studio

Taos has many museums, some are privately owned like the Kit Carson and Governor Bent homes. But there are 5 owned by the county and one can purchase a 5 Museum ticket for $25, a 50% savings.  Some friends came up from Albuquerque the first week I was in Taos and we went to the Fechin House which also houses the Taos Art Museum.  Nicolai Fechin was an incredible artist, and somewhat of an insomniac. When the sun went down and the light faded in his north facing studio, he then went to work carving wood. The entire house is decorated with carved lintels, colums, shutters, doors, baseboards, gates, mantels and other surfaces of wood. It has two bathrooms, both decorated in the style of the 1920's with deep metal tubs, big pedestal sinks, yellow tile and copper plumbing. The kitchen has been left in it's original state, with the gas stove tucked into an awkward little nook and a "modern" refrigerator with the compressor on top. I couldn't imagine cooking in a kitchen that badly arranged, but since there was no air conditioning back then, the stove in the nook put it next to a window which could be opened on hot days.  It was interesting to see lots of old cleaning supplies like BonAmi powder, matches, Calumet baking powder....it brought back a lot of memories of my grandmother's kitchen.

Fechin House Fridge

Upstairs there are several bedrooms with light coming in from large multipaned windows. There are two solid cedar closets that are elevated with a trap door floor for storing sweaters and other wollens I would guess. The floors were beautiful dark pine and the walls were decorated mostly with drawings and etchings from Fachin and several of his friends. His daughter had donated the home to the town of Taos in the 60's after her mother passed away. Much of the furniture was original and created and/or designed by her father.

Another "Home" museum is the Blumenschein. Ernest, his wife Mary, and their daughter Helen were accomplished artists, though back in the 30s and 40s only Ernest was lauded as the great artist. Helen also deeded the home to the town with all of its furnishings. It's a lovely home, every wall filled with paintings of Taos artists and their more distant friends.

Pottery in the Millicent Rogers' collection.

Handwoven dress
and rugs.

Practically next door to the Blumenschein is the Harwood, a modern art museum with several installations by current artists. Although there were some paintings in the collection that I recognized from various contexts in my life, the more modern stuff escaped me entirely. A giant pile of shredded wool that was titled "My Brain", a block of black wood halfway up the wall, with a more rectangular black block nearby......a plastic case with half a doll's head....hmmm. And a room of large Agnes Martin paintings of white on white with a bench to sit on while looking at them. If I could get into some Zen frame of mind, I might enjoy watching shades of white shift around from the staring.

Belt Buckle from Millicent's collection.

They also have an impressive collection of Santos, Retablos, and other altar art from the last three hundred years, plus old carved Hispanic furniture, plus the wonderful wood carvings of Petrocino Barela.

Although the Millicent Rogers Museum used to be a home, it wasn't her home. Millicent was the grand daughter of one of John D. Rockefeller's partners, so she was raised with incredible wealth and good taste. Her collection of South Western Indian jewelry, pottery, carvings, drums, tinwork, furniture, and fabrics is mind boggling. The museum shows only small portions at a time, so that each time one will find different examples of art. Plus she was a talented designer and had many of her own pieces made by local artisans.

Quilters at the Martinez Hacienda

The last museum on the ticket is the Hacienda de los Martinez. It is an old formidable hacienda built in the large rectangular shape with two patios inside and a couple of cart entrances with heavy gates that can be closed for defence. The famous Padre Martinez was raised in this house. In the first patio there is a well, quite deep and dry now, evidence of lowering water levels in the valley. The hacienda faces a small stream edged with cottonwoods and willows. It featured a blacksmith shop, small chapel and even a room for the occasional visiting priest. Most of the rooms were used for storage of leather goods, grains, equipment, and tools, while people crowded into the 'bedrooms' when it was winter and they couldn't sleep outside. Some rooms had tiny kiva fireplaces in one or two corners and people slept on piles of sheep skins. In one of the larger rooms a series of old quilts were on display and a small group of women (and one man) were quilting using a suspended frame that hung from the ceiling.

Looking into Fechin's Studio from the garden.

Fechin House kitchen circa 1920

My reflection in a tin mirror at the
Millicent Rogers Museum

Products dating back to the 1920s.

Entrance to the Martinez Hacienda

Pie Town and the Mal-Pie

The edge of the Malpais.

North of Pie Town, New Mexico, the land rolls in hills covered with classic juniper/pinon forest, full of chamisa, sagebrush, potentilla, cholla, and prickly pear cactus.  Further north, straight up the dirt road that leads from the Pie-O-Neer cafe to the badlands is the Malpais, the rough and tumble black lava beds that are barely 600 years old with little vegetation or dirt covering their charcoal-colored rough ropy surfaces. One can easily imagine how beastly hot a forest fire was when you see the remains, and it's equally easy to imagine the hot slow lava flowing, burning up everything in it's path, until for whatever reason it cooled enough to stop, like maple syrup spilled on a table spreads but never makes it to the edge.

The Malpais. Pronounced Mal-Pie. How fitting that it's so very close to Pie Town.

Sandstone cliffs 

Between the black lava and the amazing sandstone cliffs that remind one of a Georgia O'Keefe painting, there is just enough room for an macadam road, two lane, sleek and fast. A relief to reach after 30 miles of washboard dirt tracks through ranches and 12-acre subdivided lots, many still without their planned vacation homes. The dirt road is the path for hikers doing the Continental Divide Trail. About half way up the dirt road is an old abandoned rock store where the hikers can replenish their supply of water. They can stay overnight if they need to. Off that dirt road are more dirt roads, and then more branching off from those. Dirt roads leading to more hills, forest, and ranch lands. Men in pickups populate these roads. Pickups pull trailers filled with cut logs for woodstoves or cleared brush or pumps and machinery for fixing a well. Pickups stop in the middle of the road, facing in opposite directions so the drivers can chat about their latest projects or gun acquisitions. It's a man's land. But there are a few women, and many of them are tough ranchers too. Fashion runs to jeans and boots, cowboy hats with turquoise and silver bands, shirts with pearl buttons. Functional jewelry like leather-strapped watches adorn their slim wrists. 

An arch in the cliffs.

It's windy. It's dry. It's rocky. It's beautiful. Cell phones work in certain spots. You can spot those places by the dirt pull-outs on either side of the road, and by the bars on your cell phone. There is electricity, delivered by poles and wires, some places have land-line phones too, but everyone has a generator because you never know when the wind might blow down a power line, or when lightning will take out a transformer. No electricity means no pump, no water, no fans, no heat in the winter. It can mean the difference between life and death.


It's possible, in winter to be snowed in for two or three weeks. People who live 'way out' know to stock up on canned goods. They can bake their own bread. They keep their propane tanks full and extra cans of gasoline in the sheds and garages. They are survivors. Some are prepared for the world to end and still they will survive. This is why they live here. Most though live here because they always have. Most were born and raised here, helped their families on the ranch, then inherited and continued. It's a way of life. The towns are small. People know one another. People care about each other. People feel each other's losses as their own. An old man insisted on living on his place, but fell and broke a hip. Nobody knows when he died. Bad roads due to mud and snow kept everyone away for too many days. People felt sad, but knew it was the only way he wanted to go. Die the way you live. Not a bad motto.

Close up of the arch.

Tumbleweed Express

Memorial Day, 2011

On my way north out of Silver City, I stopped in the little town of Glenwood. A  wonderful “attraction” there is called the Cat Walk. It’s an elevated set of stairs and platforms through a narrow canyon, the modern equivalent of an old wooden one back in the gold mining days, that allowed the miners to get way up the canyon to the mine. I didn’t stop this time to visit the Cat Walk, I just got gas at the one and only station in town.

There are 4 pumps and none of them are automatic, you have to go inside and pay first. The store isn’t a typical convenience store either, it’s also the town’s one and only grocery. I almost tripped on a box next to the entry that had a hand-written sign on it: If you’re going to Pie Town, take this to the Pie-O-Neer Café.

I paid for the gas and asked the woman behind the counter if I should take it, Pie Town was my destination. She was just thrilled and offered her husband to carry it to my car. It was a pretty small box so I thought I could probably manage it. It weighed a ton!! I had no idea what was in it, but I lugged it to the car and drove on.

The map showed a road turning north from Apache Creek, a few miles from Reserve. But somehow I missed it. I ended up driving on to Datil. The map shows both routes to be about the same, distance-wise, but the other road is supposedly prettier. I finally made Pie town about 2:00 in the afternoon. Sure enough, there are 2 restaurants: the Pie-O-Neer, and the Pie Town Café. Both serve…..you guessed it….pies. There is a post-office in an old adobe building that appears to be cracking in half, and I think I passed a gas station. Some houses can be seen if you look quickly, off to the south side of the road. Maybe 60 people live there.

The Cell Phone Booth, the only spot where you can
 talk on your cell phone.
North of Pie Town, about 12 miles. 

It was Monday, and Memorial Day, but the Pie-O-Neer was open. It’s in a quaint little building with quite a few cars parked outside. I was glad it was open because my only other option would have been to call the number on the box, and there is NO cell service in Pie Town. I went in and told the man who was sweeping the floor that I had a box from Glenwood. He came out to fetch it and asked me to come inside. In the old days the Pony Express would deliver mail from one place to another, but now days, that personalized service is called the Tumbleweed Express. The owner, the waitress and the sweeper all gave me a big hug and thanked me profusely. They’d been waiting for this box for a while, it contained tourist pamphlets (which accounted for the weight!) and they were so happy to be able to fill up the rack again. By this late in May, tourist season is in full swing.  I was offered a piece of pie as a reward for the community service. Most of the pies were fresh out of the oven. They looked scrumptious. Two kinds of apple - a crisp and a regular crust pie; strawberry-rhubarb, chocolate cream, cherry, peach, and lemon meringue. I chose cherry and took it with me. The owner said to open the box as soon as I got to my destination since the pie was still hot and it would steam up the crust.  What a nice bunch of people.  I just love small towns in the West. People depend on each other, and even on the kindness of strangers…..and it works!

Grandma's Cafe, Silver City, NM

Every restaurant in town is closed on Memorial Day except the big chains. Grandma’s Café has an open sign, so I whip a fast left and narrowly miss the one car coming from the opposite direction. It’s everything you’d expect from a café named Grandma’s:  A friendly (in a surly way) waitress. Tables decorated with floral plastic table cloths with matts on top. Thick white dishes. Jam in a  jar, with a big spoon sticking out.  A bottle of hot sauce next to a vase with a little bouquet of flowers.  Walls covered in floral wallpaper. Windows dressed in lace. Wood floors. A counter with a display of cereal boxes and a glass case full of pies.

A simple looking overweight man comes in and sits at one of the center tables. The waitress greets him by name: Bruce.

A teenaged boy named Jimmy swoops out of the kitchen and tells the waitress not to give Bruce a hard time. “You mess with Bruce, You’re messin with me!” Then to Bruce he says, “I got yer back man!” Bruce is beaming.

The waitress is chubby but has an amazing amount of energy for a sixty something woman. She asks Bruce if he wants coffee. He says no. “What? Our coffees’ not as good as McDonald’s”. Bruce says he wouldn’t go to McDonalds if you gave him a hundred dollars. It takes him a while to say it. She delivers coffee to the other customers, comes back to Bruce and says “So, we’re not your second choice after all?” He drawls out that he’s surprised to find Grandma’s open, all the other restaurants in town are closed. The waitress replies, “We’d be closed too if Jimmy had just hog-tied Gramdma this morning like he was supposed to.”

Two other locals come in, see Bruce and join him. There are a dozen tables seating 2-8 people. More than half are full, and there’s only the one waitress. She fills my cup – “You may have wanted the day off, but it sure looks like you all have a good time here.” I tell her.

She smiles and whips over to the next table to fill them up. 

Silver City Blues Festival

Crowds are large but not as thick as last year, high winds most likely keeping them away. A boy walks by holding a Styrofoam plate of fresh hot salty potato chips. The wind flips it out of his hands and it sails, chips flying in all directions onto a group of gray haired ladies dressed in the tie-dye shirts and hippie dresses they just bought at the corner booth. The poor boy is horrified, and still hungry.

The sun by late afternoon is relentless but made easier to bare by the wind which keeps the air cool. People have stayed out without sunscreen longer than they should. Every now and then a hat sails up over the crowd.

The bands are amplified to uncomfortable levels unless one wears ear plugs or wadded up napkin balls soaked in spit. Some enterprising vendor has sold bubbles to children. Often, without seeing them coming, a cold bubble lands on the skin in a chilly pop. A man in cowboy hat and thick luscious beard wanders around with Mardi Gras beads, doling them out to little girls and a few boys, some women too. He looks a kind soul, maybe a wifeless man who would have adored to be a father but is now perhaps too old.

Those who staked out a spot under the shade trees are the smart ones by late afternoon. The bands will quit at 6:30 today. The Pleasure Pilots just finished with a blues tune after playing several Van Morrison’s.

The couple sitting next to me look like people I’ve heard about from Arkansas. Both of them are missing some front teeth and have grubby looking hair in dire need of conditioner. But they talk like they’re from California. Turns out they are really down on their luck, homeless and living in a tent in the woods near by. They’ve been here in Silver City for 2 years. Friends let them shower and do laundry. They eat free lunches at the Baptist church during the week, and get some food from the food bank. But they have no way to cook. You can’t build a fire in these tinder dry woods – so I gave them my gas stove and a gallon of white gas.

The last act of the day was a sitar-blues-guitar fusion act. Harry Manx (only one person) had a drum at his feet, a harmonica at his lips, a mic for voice and a specially made instrument that resembled a guitar with more strings than I could see in that late afternoon sun. It sometimes sounded like a guitar with sitar undertones, sometimes like a sitar alone. He tuned it for a long time and joked that when musicians tune a sitar you can’t tell where the tuning stops and the song begins. So it was as he moved into the tune.

Wonderful last act. Not dance tunes but then, we were all pretty well danced-out. I had spotted a woman in a yellow “Stand on the Side of Love” t-shirt. I knew immediately that she was Unitarian. Sure enough Maura and her friend Peggy had come down from Albuquerque. It was their third year. We met up after the last act and went to dinner at Isaac’s, a nice bar/restaurant downtown. They were delightful women, we drank and ate, chatted, and then they offered me their camping spot at Rose Valley. Maura has a Eurovan camper and there was plenty of room for both vehicles to fit into the long ‘slot’. So I had electricity all night, no need to park in front of the restrooms to recharge my batteries and run my computer!

Canyon of the Ancients

Back today from a weekend at Canyon of the Ancients in SW Colorado. Bill Priedhorsky, fearless leader of the previous canyoneering experience, organized this one as well. I will add, he did a great job. There were probably 40 of us, and we all managed to arrive on Thursday night, get up in the morning and be organized into troops (like baboons) to go out on expeditions. One group led by Momo (sound like a good baboon name? Sorry Momo, I couldn't resist....) went off on an eleven or twelve mile hike through the newish national monument called Canyons of the Ancients, up the Sand Canyon route. The rest of us went with archeologists on a private tour of the Kelly Place property (the B&B where we stayed, check out their website: http://www.kellyplace.com/) to see exceptional ruins in pristine condition. There were two archeologists, a young energetic newly minted PhD named Joel, and an old long-winded codger with a bushy beard and thick glasses named Jim Colleran. I wiggled my way into the group that looked like it would be going with Jim. What a character! I fell in love with him before we'd stepped off the sandy bottom onto the trails.

Jim and Bill, Fearless Leaders

We climbed natural stairs in the sandstone for a hundred feet up to a 'level' and walked along the base of steeper cliffs reminiscent of Arches and Moab. There were 'alcoves' in the rock, naturally occurring deep shelters in which the ancestral puebloans built their cliff dwellings. Hiking up to those was somewhat treacherous. Along the way we stopped often to see some interesting artifacts on the trail, places where they had sharpened their stone tools on other stones leaving long slim grooves, pottery shards, depressions that indicate a long filled kiva, mounds telling of buried house walls and other interesting bits that the untrained eye would simply swoop over. In the alcoves we learned of different building styles, how to roughly tell whether it was built locally or with Chacoan influence, whether it was old or more modern, 800 AD vs 1300 AD.  Mesa Verde, the entire mesa, is visible at the east end of the canyon, so we speculated whether or not they had used smoke signals or light signals for long distant communication. In the arroyos I looked for, but didn't find, evidence of dams. Jim said the Anasazi built all kinds of damns, they saved every precious drop of water they could, but evidence of them has long vanished in subsequent floods. 

He told of a nearby 'find' where 19 people had been cannibalized. The bones were scraped, boiled, the marrow removed, and the gourmands' caprolites (turds) were found in the fireplace ashes. When you eat a human, there are enzymes the body cannot process and the enzymes end up in the poop. Sure enough, those were present. We found many shards of different types of pottery. A bowl is one painted on the inside, a jar is painted on the outside. If there is painting on both sides, it's still a jar. Go figure....

Ruins on the Sand Canyon Trail

We learned about the many uses of Yucca fibers, how they were extracted from the leaves, and how modern pueblo people still use them for fine paint brushes. The old ones made ropes, sandals, wove material, and probably had dozens more uses for the tough little fibers. They raised turkeys and had domesticated dogs. They split turkey feathers and wove the fuzzy edges of the feathers into warm blankets. Jim was a wealth of information and his enthusiasm was contagious. He was also an amazingly strong man. He carried a full pack with emergency gear and plenty of extra water in case someone didn't bring enough. It was no 'girly' pack. 

We hiked down the trails stopping at various sights, the last of which was a very deep alcove with only the smallest ruin at one end. It was pretty modern and the rest of the alcove had a large deep sand floor. The blackened ceiling spoke of maybe 10,000 years of periodic human occupation. Every one of the sites had a spectacular view of the opposing snow covered mountain range, a sunny warm southern exposure, a kiva or two, and no obvious source of flowing water. It amazes me that not only did people survive here, but their populations got large enough to spread out and even, perhaps, surpass the region's ability to support them all. An ecological lesson we should keep in mind with our 7 billion-plus population on the planet right now. 

Hiking along the canyon edge