Its a beautiful drive through the park with natural rock formations around every turn. I took a chance that an earthquake wouldn't hit while I stood holding the rock in place.
There were so many unique formations that I couldn't decide what to shoot so I just took pictures of grammie. She's unique.
In the background is Pikes Peak which you may have heard of. We never got a picture of the top because of the clouds, but I hear its quite high.
Its hard to get a feel for the beauty in a picture but this is an amazing place. The red rock gives a great contrast to the regular rocks and soil.
Apparently, these rocks were formed by sedimentation and became sandstone under great pressure and have now been exposed by erosion. Isn't geology fascinating?
Just down the road is an ancient Indian community of homes built into the cliffs. It has been dated to about 1100AD and other than steps and railings, hasn't been touched or repaired.
Its called the Manitou Cliff Dwellings and was the home of the Anasazi who have disappeared over time.
Even the timbers in the floors are original. The area is so dry and the cliff above protects the dwellings so no rot or erosion has happened.
Those openings in the wall weren't windows, but the doors. They are about 1.5 feet wide and 2 feet tall so everyone crawled through them to get in or out. Removable ladders were used to get to the upper floors. The average room was about 6 feet by 8 feet and held a family of four. The building behind grammie was 3 stories high with a family living in a room behind each door opening. The wood poles supported the floor for the rooms above.
They grew corn which was their main food. There were a few rooms like this where the corn was stored and the women knelt in front of these grinders with a flat rock and ground the corn by crushing with the rock.
It is believed that the Pueblo Indians are descendants of the Anasazi because of the similarity between the cliff dwellings and the more modern pueblo homes. This is the museum and is built in the pueblo style. There are no ground floor entrances and ladders are needed to get to the rooftop openings. Except for the museum entrances of course. In the museum it shows how the logs are used to support the floors and how those small rooms could hold that many people. Fascinating place.
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