SOUTHWEST SAFARI CAMP

The Other Mesa Verde

Program Dates: TBA

• 7 days-6 nights starting and ending in Durango, Colorado
• Group Size: Minimum 8 Maximum 16
• Expert Staff: Virginia Wolf and/or Ed Wheeler

Departures

¶  Learn through hands-on education, exploration, and discovery of places that most people don't know exist
¶   Transportation from/to Durango, CO airport
¶   Participate in a Unique, Unforgettable, Small Group Setting
¶   5 nights in deluxe camp near the Ute Tribal Park campground
¶   Hikes from 1 - 6 miles per day RT at elevations from 5,500 feet to 7,000 feet.
¶   Visit Bone Awl, Lion House, Two Story House, Fortified House, She House, Porcupine House, Morris Five, Kiva Point, Eagles Nest, and/or Mesa Verde National Park
¶    Visit Mesa Verde National Park and shop in Durango
¶    1 night at the Strater Hotel in Durango
¶    Evening programs by expert staff, guest lecturers, and Ute interpreters
¶    All meals cooked by an outstanding camp chef
¶    Archaeoastronomy week visit Equinox and solstice sites - Turtle, Raymonds Pie, Butterfly, Eagle, Bear, and more

Highlights

Mancos Canyon is located south of Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado and is owned and protected by the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. It is a relatively unknown canyon and archaeological gold mine containing more than 20,000 Anasazi/Ancestral Puebloan archaeological sites and immense quantities of artifacts, cliff dwellings, petroglyphs, solstice sites, and towers---800- to 1,300 years old.  It is often referred to as the "Other Mesa Verde."  This trip is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see seldom seen archaeological sites. Some hiking trails may require scrambling on sloping rock and negotiation of low sandstone ledges and/or tall ladders. On Archaeoastronomy week we will alter the schedule below so we can study the techniques developed by different prehistoric cultures to determine and display significant dates such as the summer or winter solstices and spring and fall equinoxes.  In the American southwest early farming societies sometimes positioned petroglyphs and/or pictographs in locations where unique sunlight and shadow patterns would interact with these images on significant dates.

DAILY ITINERARY

Day 1 Meet at Durango, CO airport by 2pm. Drive to camp and get settled in, have dinner, and an orientation.

Day 2 After breakfast drive and hike to Red Pottery village and Kiva Point to see a large rock art panel and numerous unexcavated ruins dating from 500AD to 1250 AD. Next visit Atlatl Point to see some of the oldest rock art in the canyon-hike a total of 2 miles.

Day 3 Hike to Two Story ruin, the first cliff dwelling ever photographed by William Henry Jackson who carried over fifty pounds of camera equipment up a one-thousand foot slope to record this site in 1876. Last visit Porcupine House to see a pristine cliff dwelling nestled under a sandstone overhang that possesses very ingenious water control devices in the rock. Hike a total of 4 miles.

Day 4 Hike North and South Lion Canyon to see a large cliff village called Lion House with 46 rooms and 6 kivas, Morris 5 with 17 rooms and 2 kivas, and then for those who like breathtaking views you can chose to climb a 30-foot ladder to see Eagles Nest tucked beneath a yawning overhang with its 13 rooms and one kiva plus some rock art.  Also see Tree House with it's 27 living and storage areas and 3 kivas, Fortified House excavated in the 1800's by amateur archaeologists and ranchers Richard Wetherill and Charles Mason, and last She House.  Hike a total of 6 miles.

Day 5  Hike to canyon bottom sites, petroglyphs, and towers. Discuss the Hayden Survey's work in the canyon in 1876. Also visit several solstice imaging sites and numerous Pueblo 3 habitation sites. Hike a total of 4 miles.

Day 6 After breakfast drive out of the Tribal Park stopping at some Ute pictographs painted by Chief Jack House, the last chief of the Ute Mountain Utes. Then drive to Mesa Verde National Park to visit Cliff Palace, mesa top villages, and the Museum at Spruce Tree House. Arrive in Durango by 4pm to shop. Spend the night at the Strater Hotel with a final celebratory dinner at a Durango restaurant.

Day 7 After breakfast depart for airport. Schedule flights for after 10am.

Cost:  $1,850.  Price includes all food from dinner Day 1 to breakfast Day 7, 1 motel night, transportation from/to Durango, CO airport, expert staff and guides and camp cook, all camp gear, and entrance fees. Airfare and personal items not included.  Single Supplement: $300 to $600 for camp and motel (call for details).  If you request a roommate, every effort will be made to find you one.  If no roommate is available, you will be charged the single supplement fee. 

Expert Staff (One of the following)

Virginia Wolf: M.A., Geography, and M.A., Native American Studies and Archaeoastronomy, has taught geography, anthropology, and history classes at Butte Community College in Oroville, CA. Virginia has surveyed the Ute Mountain Tribal Park for Basketmaker-Early Puebloan petroglyph panels, and worked in Chaco Canyon and the Hovenweep National Monument area since 1989.

Ed Wheeler: M.A. Anthropology, was the Department Chair for the Anthropology Department at Butte Community College for 30 years. Since 1989 Ed has been a co-researcher with Virginia Wolf in Ute Mountain Tribal Park, and co-producer in a commercial video/DVD covering some of the Park's archaeoastronomy sites.  They co-authored an article in Southwestern Lore Journal concerning several solstice sites in Mancos Canyon and did a survey of Basketmaker-Ancestral Pueblo calendar/tower sites extends into Chaco Canyon, Hovenweep and other areas in the Four Corners region.