Chimney Rock

Glad I took my sandwich!

I announce this on my return to the upper parking area to the very talkative volunteer who is momentarily mute. She's standing with a large tour group. I notice a chilly vibe. 

Reading the informational material long afterwards I see it - No food or picnics. Reasoning hints at aggressive squirrels. It’s not like I took a cooler of beer but it was awkward. Afterward awkward. But I was still glad I took my sandwich and the larger water bottle. 

I was the first one up the trail. It was about 9:15 when I got to the main entrance at the base of the mountain. The contrast with the Mesa Verde is profound. I was nearly alone. Driving up the road myself was delightful. It’s the end of the season now. In summer vans take you to the upper parking lot.

It’s a dramatic landform even without knowing its significance to ancient people. They must have felt a similar sense awe. Racing along US 160 West of Pagosa Springs today we come upon it fast and dramatically. The Chimney and Companion rocks poke up from the top of a mountain that towers over the Piedra River between two other river valleys. 

At the height of occupation the ancient pueblo people grew corn, beans and squash in the valleys. They lived in smaller scattered farming villages, most within a mile of the upper pueblo where a 44’ great kiva is located. This is 90 miles from Chaco Canyon and considered the Northeastern most Chaco outlier. Signal fires were used and I expect there was a code language. There is a lumber camp theory that trees were harvested from here for construction elsewhere. Like other Chaco pueblos, it was abandoned after 1135.

Uncertainties always remain in archaeology. One is the why this happened. Another is the degree of connection between different contemporaneous cultures during this and other periods. Trade goods prove connections - primarily with the South. The Maya and Zapotec cultures were going then. So were the Mogollon, Hohokam,  and Fremont. To the east the Mississippian cities like huge Cahokia were flourishing. 

Imagine a traveller - Kokopelli the hunchback flute player depicted in ancient art - spending the better part of his or her life traveling. As he approaches villages he’s encircled by children drawn to the sound of his flute. He’s a master of music and languages. He shares knowledge, first with the children and then with adults, learning and teaching new and different techniques for weaving, clay work and building. There must have been many others traveling singly or in groups. Undoubtedly some were friendly and some were not.

There's another big kiva surrounded by rooms at the very base of the big rocks. I walked up the steep narrow "causeway" to the old fire tower location. The tower was removed in 2010 and beneath it archaeologists found the 1000 year old signal fire pit. Interestedly, the signal fire communication potential wasn't proven until a Farmington high school student, Kathy Freeman, used mirrors to relay light from here in 1990.

I sat on the edge of the lookout foundation and ate my tahini and honey on whole wheat as a huge raven circled overhead. He knew the rules.