Maggie was making her way from Montana down to New Mexico, there were a few places on her route we wanted to explore. The timing happened to be perfect for catching the annular solar eclipse that was passing over New Mexico!
11 October 2023
Maggie and I made plans to meet up in Mesa Verde National Park. We both arrived mid-afternoon, embraced, then picked a campsite for the night. A short nature walk up a near by mesa let us stretch our legs. Walking. Always walking for a better view, the two of us.
Together again
12 October 2023
We had an afternoon tour booked for the Cliff Palace, the largest and most iconic cliff dwelling of Mesa Verde. Maggie and I used the morning to explore the park.
A short hike on the petroglyph trail got our day going. Meandering down along the canyon walls, we weaved around and in between the sandstone. Along the way were some small boulders with series of gouges scraped out. These were tool sharpening stations.
We found the petroglyph panel, etched into the dark patina. Familiar symbols stood out – hands, big horn sheep, and birds – but the mysterious spirals, squiggles, and amorphous figures always make you wonder what meaning they held for the artists and their culture.
We opted to loop around on top of the mesa, where we got a better view of the landscape. Some believe the Ancestral Puebloans retreated to Mesa Verde as conflict broke out between warring tribes. The canyons and cliffs made it possible to build defensively, to hide out and make any intruders work to find a way in. This was evident from our high vantage point.
Our tour of the park continued with a few roadside stops, including a pit house from some of the earliest inhabitants, and some cliff dwelling overlooks. What an incredible place to live…
It was time for our guided tour to Cliff Palace. Corralled up with about 40 people and a NPS Ranger, we descended step and ladders to the dwelling. We let the whole group go ahead, somewhat strategically getting to the back of the conga line.
The immensity of Cliff Palace is incredible, especially up close. I get taken to a dream world imagining Native peoples living here. Fires burning. Late night gatherings in the kivas. Families sleeping together on the floor.
Seeing it now also makes me think about the impermanence of cultures and civilizations. I’m sure the people who lived here believed they and their descendants would be there for the rest of time. Even the most well hidden and protected civilization is mortal. Finite. It makes me wonder when our civilization, as we know it, will end…
Our day in Mesa Verde was awesome! However, this was only the first stop. We drove down into New Mexico and camped near the Angel Peak Badlands. We didn’t plan to camp here specifically, but the view was quite nice as the sun set on this colorful and textured land.
13 October 2023
After years of finding excuses to not go, Maggie and I finally made our way to Chaco Culture National Historic Park (or Chaco Canyon). We were brimming with excitement as we set off for a 6 mile hike up onto the canyon rim.
Within the first quarter mile, we passed by a ruin 2 or 3 stories tall, with multiple kivas. This alone would have been an amazing sight to see, but this was a smaller structure compared to the rest of the ruins in and around the canyon.
Getting Started on the Pueblo Alto Trail
We climbed up a crevice in the canyon wall and topped out on top of the mesa. Before long, another pair of ruins appeared, ample pot sherds around the perimeter. Some of the masonry was incredible, with loads of tiny sandstone flakes filling in the gaps between the larger blocks. We ambled around the walls, imagining life in Chaco Canyon.
Looping around on the mesa, we saw tons of coral fossils in the sandstone. I’ve walked on a lot of sandstone in my life and never have I seen so many fossils!
Back near the canyon rim, we could see down to the larger pueblos. From this vantage, we could grasp the scale of the construction as tiny people toured around. There is a hint of alien architecture in the smattering of circular kivas, at least in my western Euro-American brain. Rectangular rooms are plentiful, but every building we saw had at least one kiva, often leaving awkward unusable space between the straight walls. Clearly, what ever went down in these round rooms was more important than maximizing floor space.
We made it back to the canyon floor with some time to check out Pueblo Bonito. Evidence suggests Chaco Canyon was a ceremonial gathering place. A number of ancient roads all point to Chaco – the center of the universe. Entering the great courtyard into the pueblo, it’s obvious this was no apartment complex but something with greater purpose. Maggie and I wandered around the rooms, mouths agape.
Pueblo Bonito
There is so much more to say about Chaco, but not enough room here. I encourage you to learn some more and visit this amazing site whenever you get a chance!
Maggie and I definitely heard rumblings of people visiting Chaco Canyon to view the annular solar eclipse while we were there. This certainly would have been an awesome location for the eclipse, but we had something more epic in mind. We drove a couple hours south to Cabezon Peak, where we met a handful of friends from Santa Fe. The lot of us camped out in the parking lot, preparing for adventure the next day.
14 October 2023
I was up early, making sure I had plenty of time to make breakfast and get my gear together for the spicy mile up Cabezon. I was greeted by a full spectrum sunrise smeared by a lone wispy cloud. Gah, I love New Mexico!
The group mustered and we were on trail around 8 am, hiking through the clear and crisp autumn air. Cabezon is a basalt plug, the frozen heart of an ancient volcano, similar to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. The softer rock around the tower has long since eroded, leaving a precipitous pillar for us to climb. Maggie and I had climbed up Cabezon back in 2021, and when I saw that the path of the eclipse was passing right over the peak, I knew that this was the place to be Oct 14th.
The trail ascends steeply, eventually requiring some scrambling and a few moves of low 5th class climbing. Some friends brought some dogs, who were unable to make it up the steeper sections. Sadly, we had to split up… But the rest of the gang made it up to the summit. The scrambling and exposure is thrilling!
I wasn’t the only person with this idea. There were already about a dozen people on top of Cabezon, and a few more folks came up behind us. We got comfy, breaking out the snacks and eclipse glasses to watch the celestial dance.
Shadows were getting weird. Making a small hole with my finger yielded a crescent rather than a circle. Looking at the sun with eclipse glasses and binoculars, we could make out sun spots! The light got dimmer and the air cooler. Being an annular eclipse, only 95% of the sun was blocked. It was still too bright to look at with out eye protection during totality. Nevertheless, this eclipse was still an awesome experience! Seeing the sun reduced to a glowing ring was totally bizarre. I brought my GoPro to capture some footie – watch here!
We scampered down as the moon slowly parted ways with the sun. I was so happy the timing worked out for us to be back in New Mexico with our beloved friends out on a unique adventure. While there was a hint of bittersweetness, ending the year and a half of adventure to settle back down, Maggie and I were reminded why we love New Mexico so much. The clear skies, wide open desert, and wild alpine peaks – a landscape to keep us stoked on life. Having a community of like-minded individuals made the decision to move back even easier. Maggie and I finished the drive back to Santa Fe, restarting our life together in the land of enchantment…
Distance Over Time 