The Mayan Ruins of Tulum

Tulum is a Mayan ruin located on the east(Caribbean) coast of the Yucatan peninsula. It is perched on the top of the cliffs with its back to the sea. It is easily accessed from either Cozumel or Cancun and is therefore visited by many tourists.There is a resort area near the ruins and a beautiful beach below the cliff on which the ruins perch.

Tulum was constructed between 1200 and 1400 AD, and was first mentioned by the Spanish in 1518. It was a walled city on three sides with the cliff  as the fourth side. Apparently it was a port for the Mayas, receiving canoes and sending them out with trade goods. Obsidian was one of the important trade items. Tulum was occupied by the Mayans at the time of the Spanish arrival, but by 1600 was abandoned.

Below are three photos of the Caribbean from the Tulum cliffside, just outside the walls. The second photo shows the Castillo on top of the cliff, while the third shows some guy parasailing(?)

The next two photos show a view from just outside the wall with the Castillo in the center.

The two photos below are of the Palace.

The photos below are of the Castillo. When we were there no one was allowed to climb the steps.

The photos below are of the Temple of the Diving or Descending God. Roberta and I thought it looked like the descent of the birth canal.

The photo blow shows the remains of a mural on the wall of one of the buildings. As you can see there is no appreciable color left.

In the photo above you can see intact plaster with some streaks of red color still present. Below are two photos of some of the ruins from a different vantage point.

The final photo is of a very large lizard perched on top of the outer wall.  As a desert dweller I have seen lots of lizards, but this guy was BIG.

Tulum is a very beautiful place. Just think of what it looked like in 1490, with all the murals and brightly painted plaster on the building walls, sitting on a cliff above the beautiful Caribbean.

Aztec Ruins National Monument

Aztec Ruins National Monument is located in the Four Corners area of New Mexico, north east of Farmington at a town called, appropriately enough, Aztec. These ruins are from the Ancient Puebloans also known as Anasazi. They were mistakenly called Aztec ruins by the early white settlers in the area. They are very reminiscent of the Chaco Canyon area and are thought to have been constructed and occupied by the same group of people. They were constructed beween 1085 and 1120 and abandoned by 1275. These ruins are near the banks of the Animas River at an elevation of about 5700 feet.

The ruins were excavated by an archaeologist, Earl Morris, from the American Natural History Museum, beginning in about 1916. The main excavation was of what is now called the West Ruin. This was a Chaco styled great house, very reminiscent of Chaco Canyon's Pueblo Bonito. I believe it was three stories high and had 400 rooms and 12 kivas. It, like Pueblo Bonito, was laid out in the form of a 'D'. A map of the Aztec ruins is shown below.

Three photos below show some of the West Ruin. The walls are up to three feet thick and were built by carefully building two walls and filling in between them with rocks and other rubble.

The first photo below shows a sort of matching v shaped deterioration of these walls. The next one shows a different view and the last one is a wider view of part of the west ruin. Notice the larger kiva in front of the ruin.

The photo below looks through two windows. These types of photos, looking through multiple doors or windows, are some of my favorites.

The next two photos show corner doors or windows. The construction experts tell us that this type of construction is weak and thus a no-no. These seem to go against that--they have been there about 900-1000 years.

The photo below seems to show a deliberate attempt on the part of the mason or architect to give some decoration to this exterior wall with the two sets of rows of dark rocks. The second photo shows the attention to detail around the end of a beam. The third photo shows careful dressing of the stones to produce a straight edge on a corner.

The three photos above show roof/ceiling details from original construction. The bottom one seems to have survived a fire.

The photo below shows an original mat in a window/door opening as seen from the opposite door.

The photo above is one of my favorites. It looks to me like these doors go on forever. They are doors going from room to room in the Great House. I tried to correct it for vertical/horizontal but gave up; as you can see which door lintel do you pick for the true horizontal? There are similar places at Chaco Canyon.

The photo below shows part of a kiva in front of the Great House.  It has not been restored.

The Chacoan people at times built large kivas, the exact purpose of which is not known. It is thought that the small kivas found in a Great House may have belonged to one clan or family group while the great kivas belonged to the community as a whole. They may have been used for community meetings as well as for religious rites/services where all of the community could attend. Speculation, of course. Earl Morris returned to Aztec in 1934 after his initial excavations and renovated a great kiva. The exterior of this renovation is shown in the photo below.

The reconstruction was based on what was found at the site.  Four pillars held up the roof. The pillars were made of alternating horizontal bands of wood and stone, placed on flat pieces of limestone.

Below are two photos of the interior taken facing each other. The diameter is 50 feet. The entrance is from either of the two antechambers. The windows around the walls enter into small rooms; no known other great kiva has such a feature. On the floor is a fire pit and two vaults. It is not known what the vaults were used for.

The photo below is of the great kiva at Chaco Canyon, know as Casa Rinconada. It has been excavated and stabilized but not reconstructed. It has a diameter of 64 feet. You can see the two vaults and the fire pit just like the ones at Aztec. The underground tunnel coming up in the center of the floor is apparently unique to Casa Rinconada and its purpose is unknown.

Finally, Aztec in the fall of the year is great with the cottonwoods in full autumn splendor. Here is an example.

For more on Anasazi ruins see the following posts by the author:Betatakin Ruin, 6/22/14
Hovenweep National Monument 5/26/14
Mesa Verde 5/25/12
Canyon de Chelly 11/16/11
Chaco Canyon 11/20/10

Betatakin Ruin

Betatakin is an Anasazi, also called Ancient Puebloans, ruin located on Navajo National Monument. The road to Navajo National Monument is highway 564, just west of Kayenta, Arizona on Highway 160. Betatakin is located on the Shonto plateau in Tsegi canyon. The canyon rim above Betatakin is about 7200 feet in elevation. The ruin is located in an alcove in the canyon wall. The alcove offers protection from the weather.

Betatakin was "discovered" in 1895 by the Wetherill brothers, who also discovered Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon. The Wetherills guided people to various sites in New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona. and then became active in preservation of these areas.

There is an approximately one mile round trip trail from the visitors center to a view point which gives an excellent view of the ruin. There is also available a guided tour of the ruin which involves a somewhat strenuous hike. This tour is available in the summer months only.

Below are two photos of Tsegi Canyon taken from the trail leading to the view point.

The photos below are of the Betatakin alcove and ruin from the viewpoint showing the alcove in relation to the canyon. The alcove is 425 feet high and 370 feet in length.

 

The next three photos are of the ruins themselves. Betatakin was constructed between about 1267 and 1286 AD and abandoned about 1306. There are 120 rooms and one kiva. Many of the ladders and roofs are still intact.  Approximately 125 people lived here. Like most if not all the other Anasazi sites it is not clear why they left.

The two photos below are of dinosaur footprints which were found in the area and now are near the visitor's center. There are also a number of other dinosaur footprints near Tuba City that I have seen.

There are two other ruins in Navajo National Monument. One is Keet Seel which is available by guided tour only and the other is Inscription House which is closed to the public. Unfortunately I have never seen either of these.

Teton Back Pack

Back in the day, 1970 and 1971, to be exact, two friends of mine and I back packed into the Tetons. That's right--two years in a row. We were slow learners. On the map below you can see where we went. We took a boat across Jenny Lake and then hiked up the trail that goes due west. At the fork in the trail we took the right hand fork and went north to the small body of water where the trail then makes another hard right and heads east. That small body of water is Lake Solitude. Jenny Lake is about 6800 feet in elevation.  From the west side of Jenny Lake it is 7.2 miles to Lake Solitude, which is 9035 feet high. There is a trail around Jenny Lake but why add 2+ miles to the hike? The trail continues across Paint Brush Divide, altitude 10,720 feet, and ends in Jackson Hole at String Lake. The photos are all from August 1971.

Below is a photo of my friends, Tony Anderson on the left and Jay Barney. This photo was taken in the boat as we were preparing to leave the boat dock on the west side of the lake to begin our adventure. I know this was at the beginning of the hike because they are so clean and bright eyed and bushy tailed.

The photo below is of the Jenny Lake boat dock as we are leaving to cross the lake to begin the hike. Note the Pepsi machine. More on that later.

Below is a photo of the Grand Teton peak from the boat as we are crossing Jenny Lake.

The trail follows along side Cascade Creek as it flows down Cascade Canyon. Below we are crossing a rock field.

The photo below shows a quiet section of Cascade Creek with one of the Teton peaks in the background.

Somewhere along the trail we happened upon this group of horse back riders and wrangler shown below. I think they told us they were out for a day ride.

Below Jay is taking a rest.

The photo below is of the creek where it comes out of Lake Solitude.

Lake Solitude at last! In the photo below the two peaks in the background are Mount Owen on the left and the Grand Teton on the right.

The two photos below show our tents set up at Lake Solitude.

We arrived at Lake Solitude in late afternoon. We set up our tents and then built a small fire and were contemplating dinner, as in the photo below. As we were sitting there I looked up and standing right in front of me was a tall guy who turned out to be a Park Ranger. He asked if we had a permit to camp there. We said no. How about a permit for the fire? We again said no. We also said we had been to this spot the year before and no permits had been required. He acknowledged that was true but during the winter the Park Service had decided to implement a permit system. Poorly advertised, of course. We asked what did he want us to do, put the fire out? Leave? He said no as long as we were already there it would be okay but next time be sure and get permits.

It turned out he or another Ranger "swept" the trail from Jenny Lake to Lake Solitude and on over Paint Brush Divide and back to String Lake in Jackson Hole once a day. All he carried was a canteen of water. Distance: 18+ miles. In the photo below you can see part of  the trail leading up to Paint Brush Divide. We took a canteen the next morning and hiked up to the top of Paint Brush Divide. What took us an hour took him about 15 minutes.

Above is a photo looking across Lake Solitude to the Cathedral Group of peaks. The one on the left is Teewinot, in the middle is Mt. Owen with Grand Teton on the right. This is early August and there are still pieces of ice on the lake and plenty of snow around. I love the moon hanging over it all. The photo below shows Grand Teton and Mt. Owen with a little Alpine glow in the evening.

In the morning we had breakfast, took some water and hiked up to Paint Brush Divide. The photo below shows Lake Solitude and the basin it sits in from part way up to Paint Brush Divide. The second photo shows Tony and Jay at or near the top of Paint Brush.

 Below are some alpine flowers on Paint Brush Divide.

The first photo below shows the divide as the trail starts to go towards Jackson Hole. The second shows the Cathedral Group from Paint Brush Divide, and the third one is of Jackson Hole from Paint Brush Divide.

I don't remember what time of day we hiked down from Lake Solitude. I just remember being plenty hot and dry. I kept thinking about that cold Pepsi waiting for me in the Pepsi machine at the Jenny Lake boat dock. When we got off the boat I went straight for the Pepsi machine and deposited the requisite amount of money and pressed the button. Nothing happened. I pressed the button repeatedly and nothing happened. I kicked the machine. All I got was a sore foot. I shook it. Nothing. If I could have I think I would have gladly pushed it into the lake. Oh, well.

A note on the photos: The film was Kodachrome, taken with a Mamiya-Sekor 1000DTL 35mm SLR, 50 or 55mm Mamiya-Sekor lens. The slides were scanned on a plustek 8200i film scanner.