Climbing Into History

[Click on any photo to enlarge.]

*Critters we’ve seen on our 2015 trip so far: elk, mule, mule deer, llama, prairie dog, donkey

*Birds we’ve seen on our 2015 trip so far: California condor, Brewer’s blackbird, American kestrel, spotted towhee

*National Parks/Monuments visited on 2015 trip so far: 3
 

As mentioned in the last post, only the Balcony House was available for ranger guided tours and is considered the most adventurous of the three tours, rated as strenuous.  Located at 7,000 ft., it’s a 1 hour tour that involves climbing a 32 ft. wooden ladder, crawling through a 12 ft. long 18 in. wide tunnel, and climbing up a
60 ft. exposed face cliff by way of two 10 ft. ladders and a series of stone steps.  Piece of cake, right?  It did sound a little nerve wracking and part of me wasn’t sure I wanted to attempt it (neither was Russ), but when we found out the price (only $4 per person), I decided I had to go for it.  Tickets are purchased at the visitor center with various times throughout the day, and after seeing the mockup of the tunnel which didn’t look so bad, we got two for noon the following day.

We met up with Ranger Abby shortly before noon, and it looked like there’d be about 15 of us.  Then just as we were about ready to head for the metal stairs that would take us down to one of the ledges, a bus pulled up with about 25 third graders!  We had hoped for a small tour group but oh well.

 

The house was built in the late 1200s and consisted of about 40 rooms.  One needs to be extremely careful not only because of the ladders and tight openings, but there are no guard rails (though most of the time you’re not that close to the edge).  We made stops in a couple of places so Abby could
describe the area, the house, and the life of the people who lived there (and probably so everyone could rest!).  Some retrofitting had been done in years past so occasionally we'd see steel pieces or obvious repairs, but the park service now tries to keep refurbishments as close to natural as possible.

 

One of our stops was at one of the kivas with a great view of the canyon as she explained how they worked.  Kiva is a Hopi word meaning “ceremonial room” though no one is certain what word was used back then.  It seems that kivas were important to the Ancestral Puebloans as gathering places for religious and social events, and sometimes even just a
place to sleep.  These circular pits were located underground accessed by a ladder through an opening in the roof and consisting of a fire pit, a small hole in the floor representing the place where they believed that humans first emerged called a sipapu, a ventilation shaft that brought in fresh air, a deflector consisting of a short wall between the firepit and the ventilation shaft that deflected the air from putting out the fire, and small ledges.  The heated air leaving the kiva through the opening in the roof drew the fresh air in through the shaft.  Quite an
ingenious system used by our ancient ancestors!

 

I had taken my smaller, older camera with me so as not to damage the newer (heavier) one, and this shot at left shows you just how narrow that opening was that we had to crawl through! However, you didn’t really have to crawl through the entire length because in the middle the space was about 6 ft. high so you could stay for a few feet and then crawl out.

 

The tour actually lasted almost 1-1/2 hours (Abby made it more like a classroom setting with lots of Q & A), and we survived this most adventurous tour.  I’m really glad we did it and wish at least one of the others had been open for a tour, too.

 

A storm was moving in and could be seen across the valley as we made our way back down the mountain headed to the visitor center.  We were heading back there since we were leaving early the next morning so I could get pick up my 21st Junior Ranger Badge which I had earned on this trip.