Pictures From the
Mesa Verde
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These
pictures were shot with my
Olympus Digital Camera . The first shot was made from just several hundred feet away.
I was in the
second group to tour the site that morning and we had descended about half way down the
canyon wall and were awaiting our turn to enter the site. It is the
first tour group of the day in the picture listening to their tour ranger
telling of the site. They are gathered around one of the many Kivas
located it the site . It was still quite early in the morning and the sun had not yet made its way to illuminate the ruin's sheltered as it was in an alcove in the canyon wall. Yet the sun shines brightly on the bit of foreground foliage a few hundred feet out from the wall. |
After lunch we took the automobile road that runs along the rim of the canyon stopping at each of the many marked photo op sites. Typically at each of these stops an ancient community site would be visible across the canyon . I would estimate the usual distance at least a quarter mile. This made them great photo targets using a long focal lens. The picture to the right was certainly a considerable community. When I took this picture 2- years ago, I judged this site the same as the one we had toured that morning and pictured above. Now after comparing the two pictures, I am not so sure. Granted the bearing angles and distances in the two shots are very different. I guess I will stick with my original judgment that the two sites are the same. What do you think? |
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The next Site pictured
on the left is referred to as the Balcony Site for obvious
reasons. This picture too was made from the opposite rim of the canyon in
the afternoon. There seems to be no direct sun illuminating any of
this picture. I remember the October afternoon as being generally
sunny but from the appearance of this picture perhaps a cloud had
temporary concealed the sun when this shot was made.
The scene makes one wonder how the people made their ingress and egress from such a site. Perhaps there has been erosion of the canyon walls that has obliterated the meager trail used by the residents. How would you like to live there to day? Perhaps with an elevator up through a shaft in the rocks to the surface where the garage for the Lexus and the helicopter were always in easy reach, it would not be too bad. |
| This is another of the several dozen Anasazi Sites photographable from the canyon rim. This site is know as the Oak Tree House. I don't Know where the oak tree is that gives it its name, It don't appear to be very large but my notes indicates it was a quite large community containing some 50 rooms and 6 kivas. |
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