Troop 219
Eklutna District
Great Alaska Council
Historian Activity Report
Event Title: High Adventure for 2007
Date of Event: June 2007
Location: Utah Canyon Country
Responsible Person: Mr. McGimsey
Person(s) Completing Report: Mr.
McGimsey
Person(s) posting to web: Bruce Hopper
In Search of the Anasazi (The Old Ones [Hopi])
As we crossed the pavement in front of the BLM Ranger station, laden with backpacks, and began walking down a ravine that would turn into Kane Gulch, our party of six Boy Scouts and two adult leaders sensed that we were about to enter a serene-if not surreal-place that would be like none we had ever encountered in our home state of Alaska. So it was, for by day's end, we had transcended time and entered the sandstone canyon world of the 14th century Anasazi.
The senior Scout in the group, Eric Pinard, had requested a trip to the Utah Canyon country, specifically to a place once inhabited by the cliff-dwelling Anasazi. We chose to explore Grand Gulch, which dissects Cedar Mesa in southeastern Utah, and contains one of the most well-preserved concentrations of Anasazi ruins on the Colorado Plateau. Our 20-mile backpacking trip was a semi-loop, whereby we entered Grand Gulch via the tributary Kane Gulch, hiked a portion of the main canyon, then exited up another tributary-Bullet Canyon.
Much has been written about the Anasazi, and many aspects of the culture remain ambiguous. They flourished on the mesa tops and in canyons of the high-plateau region of the southwestern U.S. from about 200 B.C. to the early 14h century, when seemingly one day, they simply picked up and left, leaving behind their dwellings and most of their worldly possessions. The southwest desert environment is nature's museum, where the effects of time seem to slow to a crawl. Although standing empty and idle for almost 600 years, the trappings of Anasazi civilization seem mainly to have gathered only dust…until a cowboy stumbled upon one of the more impressive cliff dwellings (Mesa Verde's Cliff Palace) late one December day in 1888. Fortunately, the rugged Plateau area remained remote for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, keeping away all but those most dedicated to learning of native cultures. Although most all of the habitation sites in Grand Gulch have long ago been excavated by early explorers and archeologists and the best artifacts now reside in museums across the country, many of the mud/straw adobe dwellings still stand, and tens of thousands of painted potsherds still litter the ground, colorful pictographs are still visible, and petroglyphs carved into the black desert varnish on sandstone walls still greet those willing to make the trek.
As our group descended deeper and deeper into the tributary canyon, our eyes searched the overhung sandstone walls, looking for anything that appeared man-made. We tried to image how and why people would live in such a narrow, enclosed world. Where Kane Gulch joined the larger Grand Gulch canyon, we discovered perched on the north wall, the first of what would be dozens of adobe dwellings that we would explore over the next several days. This particular cluster was aptly named Junction Ruin, and comprised three different levels, the uppermost one nearly 80 feet above the canyon floor. High above the remnants of a stone platform built at level two, a piece of ancient ladder still hung in place as evidence of the precarious route up to this highest level of the ruin. These nearly inaccessible redoubts were once thought to have been established late in the occupation for defensive purposes. More recent studies question this interpretation.
Over the next several days, we examined ruin after ruin, most all situated in large overhangs on the north canyon wall (south facing), and within reasonable walking distance of a spring or water seep. Each site had been named to reflect some unique aspect-Split-Level, Turkey Pen, Green Mask, Jailhouse, Perfect Kiva. The boys marveled at seeing the ancient fingerprints impressed in mud on the adobe structures. Soot-covered walls in the ruins spoke of countless fires used for cooking and warmth. Hundreds of corncobs littered the areas around grinding surfaces (metate). On the canyon floor below each ruin stretched the long-ago-overgrown flats where fields of corn and other vegetables were once grown.
On the final day, as we turned up Bullet Canyon, we visited one last ruin-Perfect Kiva-so named for the unusually well-preserved kiva, or round, subterranean room, long thought to have been used for religious or ceremonial purposes. The roof is still intact, and the BLM has reinforced a ladder so that visitors can descend down into the dark chamber and imagine sitting along the stone wall-bench, shoulder to shoulder with The Old Ones.
Seeing firsthand the ruins and remnants of this ancient culture made the afternoon spent in Blanding, Utah at the Anasazi Indian Museum more interesting and meaningful. Here, we saw the beautiful pots, baskets, sandals, and stone/bone/stick implements used and made by these cliff dwellers-all items left behind when they mysteriously abandoned their canyon homes scattered around the desert southwest. We came back to Alaska with a new perspective on our own state's native peoples and culture.
For those interested in learning more about the Anasazi, I highly recommend David Robert's 1996 book In Search of the Old Ones, Simon and Schuster.
T-219 participants: Matt McGimsey, Zack Moore, Josh Morrow, Eric Pinard-Janisch, Evan Weinzirl, Derek Von Epp; adult leaders: Game McGimsey and Pat Haugh
--Game McGimsey
Best Part of the Event:
all of it
Worst Part of the Event: having to
leave so soon.
Scoutmaster/Asst Scoutmaster Comments:
A big thanks to Mr. McGimsey
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