Blanding, UT
Along the road from Cortez down McElmo Creek toward Hovenweep National Monument the top of Sleeping Ute Mountain is just visible.
The water in McElmo Creek allows ranchers to grow alfalfa and hay for their cattle. [And, no; I didn't see Elmo in a kilt! :-)>]
From where I stopped for lunch, a less-impeded view of Sleeping Ute Mountain.
At Hovenweep NM on the rim of Little Ruin Canyon, the Stronghold House & Tower -- or what's left of them.
The Classic Period, between 1100 and 1300, for Ancestral Puebloans, produced many cliff dwellings such as those at Mesa Verde, Canyon de Chelly, Aztez, and Hovenweep. As the brochure for Hovenweep states,
"Larger numbers of people did not come to the area until after 1100. The final wave of building that created the Howenweep towers began around 1230 as people began moving away from the mesa-top homes....Twin towers: most were constructed after 1230.
The earliest were round or square buildings, but as time went on they became more elaborate -- multi-storied, oval, rectangular, or D-shaped in plan...."
The Eroded Boulder House. Formerly there was a tower on top of the boulder.
Along the rim of the western-most branch of Little Ruin Canyon, what archeologists call a Unit Type House. That is, "it was a basic plan for most of the dwellings in the Southwest: a few living and storage rooms and one kiva--possibly home to a family or a clan. Most larger pueblos expanded by simpling repeating this idea."
On the left, the Rimrock House -- just to the right of the towers in the previous photos. [N.B. I shot these photos with one hand while holding my hat to shade the lens in the other; also, my glasses were roughly 400 yds away in my camper.]
A morning view of Sleeping Ute Mountain in Colorado along with the chain of mountains which extend southward from it.
--
Links:
- National Park Service web pages on Hovenweep National Monument
- Wikipedia article on Howenweep NM
- Website devoted to Hovenweep by O. Ned Eddins
- Wikipedia article on Blanding, UT
W 28 Mar Actual Route: Mom & Pop RV Park - Shiprock - Ute Mtn Casino RV Pk, CO
Th 29 Mar Actual Route: Ute Mtn Casino RV Pk, CO - Cortez - Hovenweep Natl Monument
F 30 Mar Actual Route: Hovenweep Natl Monument - Blanding, UT - KamPark RV Park
Sa 31 Mar Route: KamPark RV Park - Blanding - Monticello - La Sal Junction - Ken's Lake BLM CG (near Moab)
Finding Campgrounds:
- RV Campgrounds from TrailerLifeDirectory.com
- Family Camping Directories from Woodalls.com
- Free campsites website
No comments:
Post a Comment