Balcony House, Mesa Verde, Colorado

walking narrow trails
eavesdropping on ancient lives
whispers are heard

Some of my favorite places include wandering through areas where there are Indian ruins. Mesa Verde, in Colorado, has always been a favorite haunt, as there are so many ruins accessible within a small area. I have visited many times and remain fascinated by the Anasazi people, the “Ancient Ones”, and their way of life. They have built whole settlements in alcoves high in the cliffs. It’s hard visualizing a life that includes ropes, ladders and hand and toe holds dug into rock. I read somewhere that to climb the toe holds you had to start the climb with the correct foot or you wouldn’t make it all the way up – their way of discouraging enemies.
You can still see areas where they cooked their food and the blackened rock overhead from the smoke of their fires – and places where they’ve ground their corn. Hundreds of people lived in some of these settlements – none remain, and it was believed long periods of drought and enemies drove them out. They just, sort of, disappeared. I feel those that were left merged with other tribes in the area to survive. They had tended to crops in the valleys and picked berries and pinion nuts from the trees. They hunted game, deer, elk, rabbit and they fished.
I’ve climbed (hugged) high ladders (not wanting to look down) and squeezed sideways through narrow passages to glimpse their way of life. In many places it almost seems they’ve walked away to return later. You can almost feel their presence.