Spruce Canyon Trails at Mesa Verde

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Spruce Tree House at Mesa Verde is the third largest cliff dweller ruin and is a favorite as it is located near a variety of visitor services including the Chapin Mesa Museum, gift shop, and food service. There is a paved trail leading down into Spruce Tree Canyon. This trail also is the starting point for two hiking trails, the Petroglyph Point Trail and the Spruce Canyon Trail. Many of the common plants growing in the canyon are also identified along the paved trail, making this a Botany Trail also.

Some of the key plants in this area are:

The Pinon Pine is one of the most common trees growing in the southwest. Every three to seven years it produces a crop of tasty nutritious nuts. These nuts are popular even today. The logs of the Pinon Pine were used for construction.

Douglas Firs grow in the moist canyon bottoms and in north facing shady areas. The wood was a prized construction material. This is tree that this site was mis-named for as it is not a spruce.

Utah Juniper is another of the most common trees of the mesa top. It was an important building material as its oil resisted decay. The string bark had several uses, such as an innersole for winter sandals.

Gambel Oaks are common throughout Mesa Verde at the moist sites and were used as ax and hammer handles. They form thickets where deer hide during the day. The acorns are edible and were sometimes ground into a meal.

Utah Serviceberry is the most common bush in Mesa Verde. The fruit is edible but is often attacked by a rust fungus. Deer browse on the leaves and twigs.

At the ruins site, the first courtyard represents an area where people lived and worked on good weather days. The three story wall fronts about 20 rooms, accessed through the rectangular and key hole shaped openings. There is a layer of soot on the cave ceiling and a kiva in the foreground.

The Spruce Tree ruin is one of the best preserved and doesn't require a special tour, as some of the other major ruins do. Mesa Verde is cut by deep canyons with rock alcoves that provided sites that a thriving Indian culture used for building in the 1200's, only to abandon them by the 1300's. The Spruce Tree name refers actually to the tall Douglas fir trees that live in the cool shady canyon. These large trees can be seen growing throughout the canyon from the views along the trail.

Kivas are thought to have been the center of spiritual activity and also as a work area and social gathering place. They are designed to give good ventilation, as opposed to the other rooms. Fresh air was drawn in through a ventilation shaft and deflected around the room. Roof beams were supported by the six pilasters distributed around the circle. There appears to be eight kivas as part of the Spruce Tree House site.

The section to the right is one of the rare places where some modern reconstruction was done to prevent further collapse. Most of the sites have only had some minor work done for stabilization. The view that the people had living here while standing in the plaza was pleasant, very green and sheltered, with the tall Douglas Firs looming overhead. A small spring provided water for this site and aided the plant growth.

Petroglyph Trail

After viewing the Spruce Tree House there are two hiking trails available to further tour the Spruce Canyon area. The Petroglyph Trail is a bumpy route that follows along the canyon side, just below the rim, and then loops back over the top of the Spruce Tree House along the mesa top.

Along the trail, there is one small ruin, tucked under a small alcove, but the more interesting part to me was how up and down and twisty this trail is. Even with a lot of construction effort to make it walkable, this is a difficult environment to move in.

Another highlight is the petroglyph, some symbolic rock art. These types of panels occur in various places all around the region. The trail guide offers some interpretations that were provided by current day Hopi Native Americans.

The squarish swirl below the hand print represents the "Sipapu" the place where the Pueblo People emerged from the earth, taken as the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona. To the left of the Sipapu and higher the Eagle Clan symbol indicates that they separated from the main migration group. To the left of the Eagle, the Mountain Sheep Clan also dropped away from the migration.
The human figures represent the people and the "whipping Kachinas" influencing the people. The "whipping Kachinas" are spirits who "straightened out" the people and gave direction to their travels. I imagine we could all benefit from "whipping Kachinas."

In current Hopi religion the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona are the home of the Kachinas, the spirits who bring the rain so that the corn will grow. Corn was the most important crop of these people and still plays an important spiritual role.
The swirl to the right has two interpretations. It represents the either the end of the migration, here in Mesa Verde, or the future end in the modern Hopi Villages in Arizona. To the left of the swirl is a lizard symbol, meaning either that the Horned Toad clan separated off from the migration, or the Lizard Spirit had influence, causing a period of wandering without direction. The human figure to the left of the lizard is another "whipping Kachina."
To the left of the "whipping Kachina" is either the Mountain Lion Clan symbol, or an all powerful animal spirit watching over the people in their travels. These interpretations cover about half of the figures that are here. There are several hand prints, and other animal and human figures and a lot of swirled lines. After the petroglyph panel the trail climbs to the canyon rim and returns loops back toward the Spruce Tree House area, giving some views from above and to the side. The last few steps of the trail go over the top of the ruin and give some views from the side. It took me about 1:30 to walk this route.

Spruce Canyon Trail
The Spruce Canyon Trail is another of two 2.4 mile trails, along with the Petroglyph Trail, that start at the Spruce Tree House trail head next to the Chapin Mesa Museum.
After splitting from the Petroglyph Trail, the Spruce Canyon Trail descends to the bottom of the Douglas Fir dominated side canyon continues south for a short ways then swings north around a canyon junction into the main part of Spruce Canyon.
The canyon bottom is dense forest with glimpses of the canyon sides. I was scanning the canyon walls for small ruins sites with binoculars but didn't see any. There is a good ruins site along the trail but I didn't see it until arriving back on the canyon rim. Climbing back to the canyon rim the route continues through the picnic ground close to the rim and you can view the trail where you were just hiking.
Continuing along the rim the trail passes Fewkes Cabin, named for Jesse Walter Fewkes, the pioneer archaeologist who did much of the early work in Mesa Verde. Fewkes was an early proponent of opening the ruins sites to the public as an educational experience. This is the oldest historic building in Mesa Verde.
The trail continues past the old amphitheater to the overflow parking lot where you can scan the cliffs across Spruce Canyon to the west with binoculars. There is a medium sized ruins site just below the rim, over the Spruce Canyon Trail, but I don't think it is visible from below. There isn't a sign pointing this site out and it doesn't appear on the park map. The Rangers said that this site is called Thomas House. I've walked this trail in 1:15 but on this hike I spent more time scanning and used 2:00 hours.

Mesa Verde National Park has an annual event where the route leading to the popular Spruce Tree House ruin is lined with Luminarias and the interiors and plazas of the ruin structures are lighted with camping lanterns. This is a popular event, especially with photographers. Tripods crowd the best vantage points both on the canyon rim and below.

A Luminaria is a small lantern made with a lighted candle supported inside an open brown paper bag with a layer of sand. During the holiday season displays of Luminarias are popular in Arizona and New Mexico and other areas of the southwest. The small lights are spaced at about ten feet along both sides of side walks and roads and create an enchanting evening display.

In winter, there are normally three tours of Spruce Tree House per day, but another four are added for this special event. As dusk settles, the flickering Luminarias guide visitors down the switch back trail that descends into the ruin site. Walk carefully, it's still very dark with only candles to guide the way.

One of the problems that Ancestral Pueblo People would have had living in these cliff dweller sites is keeping warm in the winter. These rooms may have had small fires burning such that the effect may have been something like this. There are soot marks on the rock ceilings that some think indicate fires burning 24 hours a day.

My visit was right at dusk and I left just as much of the visiting crowd was still arriving. It is a twisty dark road for 25 miles to get to the Spruce Tree Ruins site, and there were ice patches in spots that don't get any winter sun. But the traffic arriving for this special event was heavy and the parking area full.


More of Mesa Verde at http://4cornershikers.blogspot.com

Four Corners HIkes-Mesa Verde

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