Pecos National Monument

 

Pecos National Monument

One day in December, we decided to do a day trip up to a place we’d been curious about for a while – Pecos National Historic Park.  It seemed like it would be a nice day, although a bit chilly, and a good day to take our pup, Max, for a nice stroll around the site where ancient pueblo people lived…. 

This is the site of a village where at one time, up to 2,000 people lived.  Early villages were made up of Apache, Comanche and Navajo people.  At one time, there were teepees that were set on this land in front of us.  Then, in 1540, a Spanish expedition arrived, and their lives changed forever. 

The Mission Church that’s now standing there is the last of four adobe churches built over the course of about 100 years.  In 1598, Spanish settlers arrived, along with the Franciscan priests who built missions like this.  This fourth church was built around 1717, on the site where the second church (built in 1625) had stood. 

This is the remains of a boundary wall which serves to identify the “city limits” of the village.  Visiting traders would set up outside the boundary and brisk trade was said to occur. 

This view looks out onto what is called the South Pueblo.  Most of the buildings, etc., from this pueblo are buried and are unexcavated in order to protect them.  It is believed that the people who lived here were more aligned with the Spanish than those who lived in the North Pueblo.  Although it isn’t obvious to us, this pueblo was once a multistory structure, with families living on the upper floors.  Exterior facing rooms were considered the living areas, with interior rooms used for sleeping and storage. 

This shows the top of a kiva, a ceremonial room, in the pueblo.  We couldn’t climb down into it, but if we were able to, we would have seen a small, round room.  Kivas are where ritual ceremonies were held that the people felt would enhance their well-being.  These ceremonies might have been held before hunts or harvests, to hopefully ensure success in these endeavors or to help heal the sick. 

The trash mounds found in pueblos are a rich source of information about how the people who resided here over the years, lived.  The current image of the trash mound (left, above) doesn’t look like much of anything, but the photo on the lower right shows what the excavation looked like back in 1924.  The trash mounds were over 20 feet high and drew the attention of archeologist, A. V. Kidder, to the site. Kidder called the trash mound that was here “the greatest rubbish heap and cemetery that had ever been found in the Pueblo region”.

 

At this spot, I’m standing in the center of what was once a thriving village.  In this spot, once stood a large, 4-5 story pueblo built of stacked, mortared, and plastered stones.  Although it’s not visible now, when this pueblo was excavated and a map drawn of the findings, it was found that this village had been constructed in a symmetrical way, which caused archeologists to believe that the village was actually planned in advance, and then constructed to plan.  And, although there were kivas throughout the village, the one in the upper left (above), was in the very center of this village and was believed to have been used for over 200 years. 

This view is of what was considered the North Pueblo.  Most of the ruins have been covered to protect them, but what is evident in this image is the wide expanse that the Pueblo people had that was available to them for growing.  Although it’s not seen from this vantage point, the Glorietta Creek is just out of sight, below, and provided ample water for growing crops and for household use. 

When the Franciscan priests arrived, their primary goal was to teach the pueblo people to become Catholic and subjects of the Spanish empire.  To accomplish this, the priest oversaw the building of and centered his life around “the mission”, the remains of what is here. 

This is the last stop of our current visit.  This large mission church is called the Second Church and is the largest of all the churches (missions) that was built at this pueblo.  It was completed in 1625 and is estimated to have used 300,000 40 lb. adobe bricks to complete it.  There is more to the tour of this incredible pueblo, and this church, but the weather seemed to be turning at this point, so we decided to stop our tour for this visit and pick it up to see the area in the immediate vicinity of this building on a trip in the spring when the weather is warmer.  Hopefully, you’ve enjoyed this part of the pueblo!  PS – Max enjoyed the tour and even got a “bark ranger” tag from the ranger at the visitors’ center!!

 

Enjoy!!

 

 

 

Sunset at Kartchner Caves State Park

 

Sunset at Kartchner Caves State Park

Our last stop on this trip was at Kartchner Caves State Park.  It was a last minute stop and turned out to be a lovely place to hold up while Winter Storm Billy raced through New Mexico.  We didn’t get to do a cave tour (spots all filled) or see the hummingbirds (too late in the season), but we did get to see a lovely sunset!

This sunset (above and below) was beautiful without moving much!  I simply stood in our campsite and got some wonderful views, in both directions!  The paved walkway in the above image headed over to the visitors’ center.  We walked on that while taking Max for a walk.  The below image is looking in the opposite direction.  This is definitely a place that’s on our “must return” list!

Enjoy!

 

Looking for a Ghost Town

 

Looking for a Ghost Town

One day while at Patagonia Lake State Park, we decided to drive an off-road we’d been down the last time we visited, but planned to turn off on a fork we saw the first time, but elected not to take.  This time, we would take the road less traveled in search of a ghost town.

As we started off on our explorations, we headed down a very well maintained dirt road. This was before the fork to the road less traveled, and we appreciated the good road while we had it!

After the fork in the road, we came upon the ghost town of Harshaw Township.  All that was left of the town were a couple of buildings, or to be more accurate, portions of a couple of buildings, as you can see above.  I did a bit of research on Harshaw, AZ, and found that the town was settled in the 1870s, and it became a mining town.  By the end of the 1800s, Harshaw mines were among the largest producers of ore in Arizona.  It had both boon times and bad times, depending on the price of the silver ore being mined.  By the 1960s, the last of the mines had closed for the last time, and the town became a ghost town.

As we drove further down the road, we came upon what was left of another ghost town, Duquense  (Du-KEN-see), Arizona.  Just about the only thing left of the town was a house we couldn’t get close to (due to the barbed wire around it) and the house in the next couple of images.  I found the window area in the above image visually very interesting.  There is a window, with part of a wall around it, but you can see through the bottom portion of the wall all the way to the forest on the other side of the house.  And, looking up through the window, gave you a view of the roof rafters, some of which look to be missing.

As we continued around the other side of the house, Jeff and I looked into a couple of windows.  One shows an empty room, again with some ceiling or roof rafters missing, and the other had a lovely stone or concrete fireplace along the one wall.  I would have loved to have gone inside, but it looked too rickety to me.  I loved the patina on the walls.  I can imagine them being brightly colored when people lived in this home.

As we looped back toward our campsite at Patagonia Lake, we passed an old abandoned mine.  Perhaps some of the homes we saw housed people who worked at this mine.  I also couldn’t resist walking up to the mine and looking up at the shoot where the silver ore came down back in the day, as they say!

Enjoy!

A Walk Around Patagonia Lake

 

A Walk Around Patagonia Lake

Last year, we discovered Patagonia Lake on a camping trip and decided to return this year.  Patagonia lake is very close to Nogales, AZ, but feels like it’s a million miles away.  Nogales, which is right on the border with Mexico is very desert like.  Patagonia Lake is a only a relatively few hundred feet higher in elevation, but it incredibly green to Nogales’ dusty tan.

Do you think this little duck knows railroad tracks run below the area where he’s paddling along?  Before there was a Patagonia Lake, the water that flowed through this area was Sonorita Creek.  The Native Americans had homesteads along the river, and fish from the creek provided meals for them.  As time went on, the United States purchased this land from Mexico, as part of the Gadsden Purchase (1854).  As mining and ranching expanded in the area, the New Mexico and Arizona Railroad added a track in their established railway lines between Benson, AZ and Nogales, AZ.  Over the years, floods took a toll on the railway, and by 1962, most of the line was abandoned.  In 1968,  the Patagonia Lake Recreation Association, made up of local ranchers, businessmen and government agencies created Patagonia Lake, leaving a small portion of the railway line beneath the lake.  In 1975, Patagonia Lake became an Arizona State Park, and today hosts camping, fishing, picnicing and water sports on its shores or in the water.

Max doesn’t know or care about any of the above history – he just knows that he does like to go in the water after all, and was fond of taking drinks and chasing after the sticks Jeff tossed in the lake for him to fetch.  We learned that, to Max, lakes are A-OK, but the ocean is not at all to his liking!!

Isn’t this a lovely dragonfly perched on a slim, little twig in the water?  I must give credit to Jeff for this image.  I couldn’t see the little guy to save my soul, so he took my camera and got this shot!

And, here’s the bridge we walked across to start our stroll around Patagonia Lake.  If you look closely, you can see a little duck in the reflection of the bridge’s support in the lower right side of the image.  So peaceful…..

Enjoy!

Romero Ruins Trail

 

Romero Ruins Trail

The day after the fire scare at Catalina State Park, we decided to follow a trail that we’ve not been down before.  We knew the trail said it was the Romero Ruins Trail, but we never knew of any such ruins in the park. In the middle of the 1800s, Mexican rancher Francisco Romero had a home in this area for a short time.  Apache Indian raids on his cattle might have led to his brief stay..  Only a small portion of the village has been excavated and restored.  Part of the enjoyment of this area is to use your imagination and imagine the whole from the tiny portion visible.

The trail is the entrance to about 1,500 years of history.  For nearly 800 years, the residents of the Hohokam village would travel this trail, with food and water loads upon their backs.  And, of course, we saw saguaro cactus up close on the trail – they were all over the place!!  In part, the Hohokam survived here because they learned about and wisely used what the environment gave them.  Water could be found for most of the year from the Southerland Wash and Canada del Oro.  These two water drainage areas (now dry) came together close to the village.  The villagers dug small wells at the bottom of the drainages in order to have water during the dry times of the year when the drainages could offer no new water.  The villagers grew corn (maize) and beans, and even used the weeds as greens to eat, and some of the seeds from various weeks and cacti.

Sometime after 1150 AD, the Hohokam villagers built a large wall of earth and rocks, enclosing the village.  Most people lived inside the wall, although some did live outside the wall.  It is estimated that although as many as 300 people lived in the village, by the time the wall was built, fewer than 100 people lived in the walled village..  In 1990, archeologists from the Center for Desert Archelogy exposed a portion of the wall seen in the photo above.  From the somewhat scattered rocks in the area (believed to have fallen off the wall), archeologists believe the wall was at least 5 feet tall during the years the Hohokam people lived there.

Early residents of Tucson associated the ruins with the Spanish occupation of Tucson in the late 1700s and early 1800s.  Myths of a mission and a treasure soon took root and grew.  Research has shown no evidence of either a mission nor a treasure,  but the legend of the “Lost Mission of Ciru” continued and some of the area’s destructiion has been attributed to “pot-hunters” or treasure hunters..  When the pot-hunters would search through the area, they would move artifacts from one area to another, destroying the relationship between objects and make it very difficult for archeologists to piece together the history of the area..

The ruins of Francisco Romero’s ranch are the youngest finds in this area., dating to the time before 1850.  It was a (then) lonely 12 miles from the town of Tucson.  It endured many raids by the Apache.

People who lived in the walled village typically would have a one-room rectangular home.  The above image is of such a home.  The rocks are what remain of the foundation of the home, and posts were placed next to and around the rock foundation.  An adobe earthen wall was then built around the posts.  Because there wasn’t much substance to them, none of the walls are still in existence – only the rock foundations.

The above image was taken while standing on what once was a mound of trash, accumulated over 1,000 years!  The ancient people’s trash is truly a treasure for archeologists, as the trash tells them quite a bit about how life was lived. The trash can consist of pottery that was used at the time.  It can also tell archeologists the types of food that were eaten by the people.  When they poured water through a bucket of ground taken from the trash mound, they found several different types of plants, with agave and corn being the most common.  Also found in the trash mound were clues to the types of meat that were eaten.  Bones from deer and bighorn sheep were found, although the most common meat seemed to be jackrabbits.

In this area, it is believed that a pithouse village existed here from around 500 to 1100 AD.  The homes were built within a large, flat bottomed pit.  They were constructed with a pole and brush frame, covered with mud to make it weatherproof.  There was generally an open doorway, with either a step down or perhaps a ramp.  Just inside the doorway, was generally a hearth.  Since there were no windows, the only way for smoke to leave was through the open doorway.  In all likelihood, the hearth was only used to warm the interior of the house, and cooking was primarily done outdoors.  Several houses were frequently built in a cluster, opening into a courtyard shared by the homes.  Usually, extended families lived in these clusters, with several clusters forming the village.  In the center of the village, one could usually find a plaza.  Since the homes were all built of perishable materials, archeologists have determined where the village most likely was by studying their trash.

Although this area may not look like much, archeologists have determined this was most likely the site of a Hohokam ballcourt.  These ballcourts are only found in larger villages throughout southern Arizona, where the Hohokam lived.  The Romero Ruins are one of only a few that had two. Ballcourts are oval shaped depressions, with either rock or earthen berms on the sides.  They have ranged from 60 – 200 feet in length, with some berms as high as 10 feet.  This particular ballcourt is about 80 feet in length.   Three rubber balls have been found at Hohokam sites.  The balls were most likely made from guayule, a plant that is native to northern Mexico.  This ballcourt dates back to between 750 – 1050 AD.  It was a way to bring different villages together and promoted cooperation and even as a way to resolve conflicts.

Enjoy!!