September 29, 2021
Echo Amphitheater and Aztec Ruins
Moore’s RV Park Bloomfield, New Mexico
It is so easy to be motivated to get up and walk when you are surrounded by natural beauty that changes as you travel. The campground sat on bluffs 150 feet above the reservoir. I walked all the way down to the water and back up again. It was great exercise! The colors of the cliffs and the sky were muted in the softer morning light. This is my “me” time…my quiet walking meditation.
As usual we began the day without a true destination…no plans. I spend a lot of time in that co-captain chair with a map in my lap and GPS in my hand!
We wondered if we should continue on Route 96 but it seemed rough and narrow and we had to be on it for more than 50 miles…or should we go on 84N? Tim found a place called Echo Amphitheater that looked interesting. We decided to head up 84 and see it. We took a hike. This natural sandstone amphitheater was created by cascading water. This place was lovely. We were able to catch the sun shining into the curvature of the rock.
Tim tested the echo effect. Watch the video with sound!
Legend has it that Navajo tribe members took settlers to the top of the cliff and killed them. Their blood ran over the rock ledge creating a permanent red stain. The legend continues…Settlers later executed Native Americans in this same place adding to the bloodstains. The echoes are said to be the voices of the unquiet. In reality, the red stains are a kind of rock varnish. Whether or not the legend is true…the west is certainly fond of its ghost stories.
Northern New Mexico is so incredibly picturesque. With its scenic byways, grassy plains, mountains, mesas, deserts and villages, this has so far been one of my favorite trips. New Mexico belongs at the top of my list with Colorado and Arizona and Utah. Nova Scotia, Baja, The Yukon, British Columbia, and Alaska are in their own category altogether!
We found a place to camp near the town of Bloomfield. We parked and ate and left to go see Aztec Ruins National Monument. These ruins were not actually built by Aztecs but by the Ancestral Puebloan People. This great house and community is situated along the Animas River and was built in the 1100’s and inhabited through the 1200’s.
This large round building was a kiva, a ceremonial space.
A smaller kiva.
A snake skin in the hole…where is the snake? Surely not to far away!
Tim could tell as we walked through, that the great house had been modified and changed several times. There is evidence of different stone, mortar, and styles of construction. Tim was able to find chisel marks on some of the stone. As a mason, Tim was amazed by how so many people of different skill levels for hundreds of years worked together to achieve the same goal and build what they did. It is obvious that the people took pride in their work. Using rudimentary tools and methods. Then, for the buildings to last so long…well he cannot imagine that anything he ever built will last 1,000 years.
This site is continually being bolstered and repaired in an effort to keep it for future generations. It is estimated though that 90% of the masonry has never been touched and is in its original state…almost 1,000 years later! The wooden timbers that at one time supported the roofs were gathered from 20 miles away. The Puebloans used spruce and aspen and pine trees from higher elevations where the trees grew taller and the wood was stronger. They also did not want to strip their own surroundings of all the standing trees.
The doors were very small. The people were shorter but additionally, smaller doors made the walls stronger and made doorways easier to block with hides or stones to preserve warmth and create storage spaces.
The life of the people that lived here was very hard. Survival was a lot of work. The construction of these great houses, planting and harvesting vegetables, storing water, and the creation of baskets and pottery were just a few of the accomplishments of this society. By the 1300’s, this site was abandoned. The people moved on perhaps due to drought or perhaps for other reasons. Ancestral Puebloan People still live in this area and work hard to keep their culture alive.
