If you’re planning at trip to Mesa Verde National Park and hoping to explore the Spruce Tree House cliff dwelling, one of the largest and most popular cliff dwelling sites at the park, you’ll be limited to viewing it from a distance. Why? While we want all our visitors to experience the cliff dwellings, keeping guests safe is our top priority. Recent rock falls at the Spruce Tree House site prompted the decision to close it to the public for the first time in 50 years.
Because the alcoves containing the cliff dwellings were formed by natural processes that are still at work, dwelling sites undergo change over time. Due to erosion, naturally forming cracks exist on the mesa above the Spruce Tree House, and continue to spread. One very large crack spans the entire length of the Spruce Tree House alcove, and has been the source of rock falls before.
In 1940, cracks and instabilities were discovered, and actions were taken to slow the erosion process. Plants and debris wedged in the cracks that were making them wider were removed. To help protect the cliffs even more, a protective covering was built to waterproof the system of cracks and hold off additional erosion.
That covering worked for two decades, but in 1960, a 10-ton rock fell from the south end of the cliff overhang, hitting the nearby public trail and part of the Spruce Tree House site. Trained climbers pulled down a loose, five-ton rock in danger of falling to prevent it from doing more damage, and cleanup began. The previous covering put over the crack was removed and replaced with an anchoring system that would hopefully prevent the cracks from widening. These 42 anchors, up to 16 feet long, were drilled into the cliff face to anchor the arches in place, then the crack was filled with gravel and cement. This system held for many years, until recently.
In August of 2015, several small rock falls at the south end Spruce Tree House cliff dwelling caused new safety concerns. Hiking to the site was temporarily closed while park officials evaluated the danger of more rock falls. Unfortunately, their evaluation made it clear the site was too dangerous for visitors. In October of 2015, officials decided the site would remain closed to the public until the safety of the area could be studied in detail.
Wasting no time, the evaluation of the area began the following month, and was completed by a specially trained climbing team made up of members from several National Parks. During this project, the system of cracks above the arch was inspected, and a large amount of loose rocks and debris were removed. The cleanup revealed that the inner areas of the cracks were soft due to water leaching away minerals necessary for keeping the rocks strong, and further damage was possible. The risk of continued cracking and falling rocks made it impossible to reopen the site. A full geotechnical assessment will likely be conducted in the future but, for the time being, Spruce Tree House will remain closed to the public.
Even with the closure, this beautiful monument can still be enjoyed by park visitors from a distance. Overlooks near the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum provides views of the Spruce Tree House, and Rangers are available to answer any questions visitors may have.
While flying does cut down your travel time, it also leaves you without a car. That’s not so bad when visiting New Orleans and staying at a hotel right in the French Quarter…mostly. While my husband was sitting through an EPA conference, my two kids and I walked all over the French Quarter, seeing the aquarium, kids museum, cemeteries, the double decker tour buses, and the butterfly habitat.
For some reason, rather than just having the nice man at the hotel call us a cab, I thought we could make it to the zoo using NOLA’s public transit system. I had several maps which laid out the route to the zoo through various modes of transportation. It would be an adventure, right?
They nicely pointed out where we should be standing. A platform in the middle of the road. The streetcar lines literally ran down the middle of the street, with cars driving on either side. Beginning to regret this adventure, we trekked safely to the streetcar stop, only to be followed by yelling. I looked around, hoping the shrieking isn’t directed at us, and found the nice lady who’d directed us yelling and waving at us. I was so startled, it took me a few minutes to figure out what she was trying to tell me.
Because the streetcars run on rails, they run in one direction. What direction you want to go determines was side of the tracks you should wait on. We were on the wrong side. So, grabbing my kids’ hands again, we hurried across the rails to the other side of the middle of the street, and waited at the right stop.
Seeing that I had two kids with me, the other tourists were extremely kind and let us get on with the first group. Ten minutes later, we finally made it to the zoo, and it was as fabulous as I’d been told. One of the best zoos I’ve visited. The only thing that wasn’t awesome was the fact that we had still had to get back to the hotel.
Originally, I intended to get my bachelor’s degree in English, but there were some issues with that plan and now I’m working on a degree in Communication-Media Studies with a minor in English. Getting my degree will allow me to teach more classes at our local community college, so here I go!
You’re not the only one who makes mistakes. We all do. While I was on a panel at Denver Comic Con last year, we were all asked what was the biggest mistake we ever made in a book. Jim Butcher was on that panel as well (which was seriously the highlight of that entire weekend!) and he said when writing the early Dresden Files books, he didn’t have the income to visit Chicago, where the books are set, and wrote a scene with characters meeting in the parking lot of the baseball stadium. Problem was, that stadium was built before the majority of people had cars. Hence: it has no parking lot.
That left me wondering, are they classifying NA as adult? Bumping it down to YA? Ignoring it completely?
Sometimes, reading is like this for me. It’s not always easy to turn off the writer part of my brain and just read to enjoy. All my writing pet peeves poke at me while I read, and make the experience less fun. Then I have to remind myself that some other writer is reading my books having the same thoughts!
I’ve also been reading JM Barrie’s “Peter Pan” (the original book) which, let me tell you, is far removed from the Disney version, or any other version I’ve ever seen. It’s bizarre and really not something a kid would understand or probably be interested by. I have a pretty good vocabulary and love British fiction, but I’m still looking up words and trying to figure out what Barrie is trying to get at half the time.
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