Cliff Palace- largest cliff dwelling in North America

Our stop at Mesa Verde National Park was short. We only had an afternoon. Both of us had been to Balcony House and Wetherill Mesa's Long House wasn't open yet. So, we took the ranger-led tour of Cliff Palace.

Looking at Cliff Palace from above does not prepare you for how large it is. The alcove itself is 89 feet deep and 59 feet high. The complex is 288 feet long with 150 rooms and 23 kivas. One tower has four stories.

Cliff Palace was used for only about 75 years—from around A.D. 1190 to 1280. Because so few of the rooms show evidence of family life and there are so many kivas, it is believed that it had ceremonial use. The walls aren't talking though, so scientists have to piece together information to make educated guesses.

Having recently read House of Rain, by Craig Childs, where he explores the Anasazi (now referred to as Ancestral Puebloans or Hisatsinom) ruins and the latest scholarly research about this group of people, I was curious to return to some of these places where they once lived. As a result of a debilitating drought in the 13th century, people in the Mesa Verde area and others moved into defensible positions and to the last places of water.

When I worked at Lake Powell we found many small graneries, a few small iving quarters and kivas as we explored on weekends off. Those do not prepare you for the elaborate ruins at Mesa Verde. And walking amonst the ruins, imagining what it would be like to live here, to grind corn and tend to daily tasks, to use hand and toe holds in the cliffs to ascend the mesa to care for crops, is mind boggling. From Childs book and others, I can better imagine the contents—basketery and pottery, weapons, looms, turkeys, and trade goods. The ruins the public sees are bare of all contents, long taken by pot hunters or stored away in museum collections.

Prior to building Cliff Palace the Ancestral Puebloans lived on top of the mesa for most of six centuries. Cliff Palace, and other alcove dwellings, were among the last sites to be occupied in Mesa Verde. By A.D. 1300 nearly everyone was gone from this area. Where did they go? What really happened? If only walls could talk! Being here, though, gives you a sense of the mystery.

Hiking the Grand Staircase

The reward at the end of the trail along Calf Creek is a stunning 126' water fall. Much of the almost two million acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah is largely wilderness and not easily accessible, but this hike is right off scenic Highway 12, 15 miles east of Escalante. Day users pay $2 ($1 for Golden Age or Access).

The trail is six miles round trip so we packed a lunch. The trail is moderate, with some ups and downs as it follows the creek. A trail guide, available at the trailhead, points out historical and cultural features like a huge pictograph on a canyon wall and graneries hidden in cliffs for storage. What made the trail a little harder was the loose, sandy soil in many places, which makes for harder hiking, and the fact that about two-thirds of the trail is directly in the sun. The last third has more shade and you are rewarded with lovely trees, mist and cool at the falls itself. You can fish for brown trout and wade in the pool or simply enjoy the cool before heading back.

While there is a small campground at Calf Creek, it is limited to smaller RVs - 25' maximum. An alternative is to camp in Escalante, which has one private campground. Plus just west of town is a state park. You can also pick up a few groceries and buy an expresso coffee in town. In fact, the best thing to do is leave your RV in Escalante and drive the 16 miles to Calf Creek. Parking is very limited and the turn onto Highway 12 with an RV is tough if you are headed east from there.

Globe mallow was in bloom with the trees leafing out- wonderful contrast to the red rock of this area. Southeast Utah always amazes me. It is high desert but down in the canyons is another world. Cottonwoods, willows and other water-loving plants thrive. From a high vantage point above the canyons, you can see a ribbon of green wherever a stream flows.

If you're following Highway 12, the hike to lower Calf Creek is a way to stretch your legs plus see riparian Utah up close and personal. Jaimie