Fortified Boulder, Cannonball Mesa

We recently visited a new to me site that is now one of my favorites. I knew that one site existed on top of Cannonball Mesa, but didn't know how to breach the cliffs. Once I figured out the access, I passed "Boulder House" a Pueblo III site (1200-1300 AD). I first heard of Boulder House as a 2009 Pecos Conference field trip, but have driven within a 1/4 mile dozens of times. Walls standing 2 feet are perched on top of a huge boulder. On the grounds surrounding the boulder are remains of a PIII village. The trail to the top of the mesa passes close by and soon brings one to an amazing view of the Four Corners area.

A narrow band of the mesa top is crossed by a zig zagging prehistoric wall. It is similar, but much longer than those crossing the sandstone tongue leading to The Citadel in SE Utah. A horse trail goes through the "gate". At the tip of the mesa, a few hundred yards past the wall, are the remains of a Pueblo I village (750-900 AD). It is rare to see a PI village because masonry really wasn't used yet. Instead, the Anasazi laid slabs of stone upright as the foundation of walls. Above these were stick and mud constructed upper walls and ceilings. Once these materials collapse, all that is left are the upright slabs, which are usually covered in soil and sand.

Millions of PI red and unpainted pottery sherds and worked stone flakes covered the ground. At the tip of the mesa, next to the village were dozens of sandstone huercos holding water even during this dry month.


Boulder House:


Petroglyphs at the base of the Boulder:


The route to the top of the mesa:

The fortified wall across the mesa:

Trail leading through the "Gate":

Pueblo I pottery and artifacts:

Pueblo I roomblock:

Gypsie in the mesa tip water tanks (Huercos):

Lightening Tree Tower

The Pictograph:

The dogs and I spent a recent Sunday revisiting a favorite Great Sage Plain site of mine, Lightening Tree Tower (5mt1691). The tower still stands at least 15 feet high and was connected to a kiva in a typical Tower/Kiva relationship. The site is a Pueblo III site, meaning that the Anasazi lived here from 1200-1300 AD, just before their permanent abandonment.

It is one of the few Tower sites outside of Hovenweep National Monument, but still protected in Canyon of the Ancients National Monument. Of the top of my head, I can think of 7 other towers in the area, outside of Hovenweep, that have standing walls of at least a few meters. Similar to some, but different from many others, is that Lightening Tree Tower lies in the bottom of a shallow but wide tributary canyon. In this way, it is like Cutthroat Castle, McLean Basin and Painted Hand, but different from the typical PIII layout on a canyon rim, often surrounding a spring.

On the cliffs above the tower is a small cliff dwelling where I found a tiny positive hand pictograph. Missed this on my first two visits. We turned the outing to Lightening Tree Tower into a 5 mile round trip hike, where we walked through many mesa top, open air sites covering about 500 years of occupation.

The Tower:

The Cliff Dwelling:

Looking for a hiking partner: Summer 2010

Looking for a backpacking partner. Trip ideas for summer 2010:

Hermosa Trail (2 days, maybe longer with fishing)

City Resevoir, meadows of Florida (2-3 day weekend)

Weimenuche Pass trail from Rio Grande Resevoir to Los Pinos TH near Vallecito (still researching, but probably 4 days)

Silverton area dayhikes and backpacks - especially an overnighter to Ice/Island/Fuller Lakes for fishing

Length of Isle Royale National Park

What I'm Reading

It's been awhile since I've posted, so here's what I've been reading in the last month or so:

Big Book of Basketball; Bill Simmons. The Sports Guy's reconstruction of the basketball Hall of Fame as well as 700 pages of other thoughts on the topic he writes best about. A great read for NBA fans, Simmons' fans, or anybody interested in hoops and pop culture.

The Art of a Beautiful Game: The Thinking Man's Tour of the NBA; Chris Ballard. Ballard, a Sports Illustrated writer, breaks down the ballet of the NBA through detailed looks at commonplace plays. My second favorite basketball book of the past month, or last decade (Behind Simmons book and Halberstam's two NBA books)

Whiteout: Lost in Aspen; Ted Conover: A look at Aspen in the 1980s. Many similarities to living in Durango.

The Hayden Survey of Mesa Verde and the Four Corners: 1874 - 1876. Chronicle of the first "professional" to explore and chronicle this area. Good hints for future visits, but mostly I just wish the Mud Springs ruin wasn't completely obliterated and looked as it did in 1876.

Eating the Dinosaur: Chuck Klosterman. My favorite Klosterman book yet. I'm still figuring out exactly what it is about.

The Machine: Joe Posnanski. The country's best sportswriter delivers a great book about the 1975 season of the Big Red Machine. I read so much free Posnanski content (si.com, joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/) that I felt obligated to buy the book.