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The Trip

Mesa Verde National Park is located in the southwest corner of Colorado between Cortez and Durango. Our restoration work will begin on Monday, September 10. Please plan on arriving no later than Sunday, September 9, by 3 p.m. as we will officially begin the outing with introductions and a briefing. For those who can arrive by Sunday morning, we will have the day to do a tour of several excellent sites. We plan to leave by 10 a.m. for this tour/hike. Snacks will be available Sunday noon, with full meals beginning Sunday evening.

Our base camp will be adjacent to Morefield Village, the park’s main campground. This is a very scenic campground with restrooms, potable water, picnic tables, and an abundance of wildlife. Free showers are available at the park store near the camp.

Restoration work includes a variety of tasks. Some work -- such as mixing mortar, resetting large stones in walls, and building stabilization walls -- can be physically challenging. Other tasks -- such as repointing mortar in cracks between wall stones and cleaning stones -- are less physically demanding. Participants are encouraged to select the type of work that they enjoy.

It is likely we will take Friday off to hike or tour the area. Depending upon the field archaeologists' schedules, we may be able to visit sites not always open to the public, such as Mug House. If time allows, we may visit Cliff Palace or Balcony House, two of the more famous cliff dwellings.

A variety of evening program options will be available, including conservation discussions, archaeological preservation presentations, a survival kit lecture, and a choice of other hands-on activities and group discussions that will depend on the interests of the participants.

The Project

The actual ruins we will be working on will be selected in the next couple of months on the basis of greatest preservation needs. In both 2010 and 2011, our project involved repointing kivas, rooms, and outside walls at Far View Ruins. It is very likely there will be a variety of types of work to do, including repointing, mortar mixing, building retaining walls, and cleaning and storing stones in walls. An update on the actual project site will be sent to participants as soon as the NPS archaeologists determine where they want us to work.

Itinerary

A typical day will start early with coffee at 6 a.m. and breakfast immediately after. The workday will begin around 8 a.m. After breakfast, we will pack lunch, which we will eat later at the work site. Plan on spending a whole day in the field working on our project. We will return to camp in time to prepare dinner and have an evening activity.

On Saturday, September 15, there will be no organized activity after breakfast other than breaking camp. You can expect to be on the road to your next adventure or heading home by 9 a.m.

Getting There

There are airports in both Cortez, CO (west of Mesa Verde) and Durango, CO (east), but no larger cities are nearby. If you fly into either of these locations, take Hwy. 160 to the Mesa Verde exit on the south side of the highway. Other alternative small airports include Moab, UT (140 miles west) or Grand Junction, CO (170 miles north). Larger airports are in Denver, CO and Albuquerque, NM.

If you are driving, there is much scenic country in the southwest corner of Colorado, including Hovenweep National Monument to the west, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park to the north, and Great Sand Dunes National Park to the east. In nearby southern Utah, you will find Natural Bridges National Monument as well as Canyonlands and Arches national parks.

When you arrive at the entry station, indicate to the ranger that you are part of the Sierra Club Archaeological Service team and they will direct you to the appropriate camping area.

Accommodations and Food

Camping:

We will be camped in the Mesa Verde seasonal employees' camping loop near the ranger residences. These are quality, individual campsites with water on tap for cooking, cleaning, and washing. There are picnic tables, fire pits, toilets, and garbage service. If you are driving, you may bring whatever camping gear you want to establish a comfortable or even luxury camp for yourself. If you wish to bring a camper or travel trailer, please make prior arrangements with the group leader.

If you are flying in, you might want to consider ridesharing from a local airport and stopping to pick up a camp chair. Please remember this is high desert at 7,000' elevation. The weather will probably be delightful, but rain, wind, and thunder storms can occur, so bring good quality camping gear.

Food:

Meals will be vegetarian and will include cheese, eggs, and other dairy and soy products. Meals will be served family style. Many of the meals will be prepared with meat products that can be added at the end of preparation if participants indicate in advance their interest in having meat available. We will be preparing food on two propane multi-burner stoves and serving out of a large commissary supply box with bowls and utensils, but you must bring your own personal eating bowls and silverware.

If you have any special dietary limitations or restrictions please discuss them with the leader. Before the trip, a food survey will be sent to all participants.

Trip Difficulty

The location and accommodations in the camp make the tenting and food preparation portion of the trip easy.

The desert can be hot or cold, windy or calm, dry or wet at this time of the year. You can best prepare for these conditions by bringing a wide variety of clothes and drinking adequate quantities of water during the trip. We purposely schedule this outing after the busy summer tourist season (also after the wet summer monsoon season) and before the colder fall weather arrives. Typically the weather is sunny and mild with light winds during the day, and cooler during the evening. There is always a chance of a late-summer rainstorm, so be prepared with good quality tents, sleeping bags, and rain gear.

The process of mixing, carrying, and applying the mortar may be physically challenging. The archaeologists will direct the work, but participants should select work they are comfortable doing. Most of the work involves pushing mortar into the gaps between structural stones with your fingers or small trowels and thus does not require difficult physical activity. This process allows participants time to really get a feel for what it was like to live and work in these structures a thousand years ago. It also allows time to interact and talk with others working in the same area.

You will have a much better time if you are in good physical condition and have the ability to handle several consecutive days of physical labor. No prior experience with mortar is required, but restoration and safety training prior to working on the project is a must. Experienced participants from prior outings will be present to help you, and the Park Service archaeologists have trained volunteers with us for several years.

Each participant will be asked to assist with preparation of several group meals. For each meal a leader will direct the work so no special cooking talent is required. Duties will include locating food, cutting and chopping, clean up, checking coolers for ice, and reboxing food for safe storage from animals.

Equipment and Clothing

The equipment list below spells out nearly everything you will need for this location at this time of year. Essentially this is luxury car camping, so feel free to bring whatever equipment, special snacks, food, drink and clothing you need to be comfortable.

You must bring your own cup, bowl, dishes, water bottles, and cutlery for your meals, including a plastic container for your lunch.

All tools will be supplied by the NPS, but many people like to bring their own compass, binoculars, GPS, and digital camera to record the work.

All the cooking equipment for group meals will be provided. You are welcome to use the stoves and cooking equipment for your personal needs except during group meal preparation.

Camping equipment:

Tent (two season or better, with rain fly and bug screen)
Sleeping bag (bring an extra sheet or insert in case it gets warm or too cold)
Sleeping pad/pillow (air mats sleep cold; foam is better)
Headlamp
Bowl, plate, silverware, water containers (at least two, one liter each) and a thermal cup
Knife
Survival kit (i.e., first aid, ten essentials, personal items, etc.)
Reusable plastic container for lunch

Personal gear:

Day pack (large enough for two liters of water, lunch, and personal hiking gear)
Boots
Camp shoes
Long-sleeved, light-colored cotton or poly shirts (at least two)
Long-legged heavy cotton pants (jeans or other work pants are fine)
Camp clothes
Socks
Underwear
Wide-brim sun hat, plus at least one baseball cap
Sunglasses and at least one pair of safety glasses for working in
Sunscreen, lip conditioner with sun block, hand cream (mortar work makes for dry hands)
Toiletries, towel
Insect repellant (conditions vary from year to year)
Rain gear (tops and bottoms; when it rains here, it really comes down)

Optional gear:

Camp chair (very important!)
Reading materials
Jacket or pile shirt for the cool evenings
Pen and paper
Maps for day hikes (you can obtain these locally)
Camera
Hiking poles
Binoculars
Compass

References

Books:

If you do some reading and research before coming, you will have a better time. You can find many excellent books on Mesa Verde at your local library, but here are a few we have found to be very helpful.

• Fiero, Kathleen, Dirt, Water, Stone: A Century of Preserving Mesa Verde.
• Noble, David Grant, ed., The Mesa Verde World: Explorations in Ancestral Pueblo Archaeology.
• Nordenskiold, G., The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde (reprinted by Mesa Verde Museum Association.
• Plog, Stephen, Ancient Peoples of the American Southwest, 2nd ed.
• Sagstetter, Beth and Bill, The Cliff Dwellings Speak: Exploring the Ancient Ruins of the Greater American Southwest.

Websites:

• www.nps.gov/meve
• www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/archeology/10/contents.htm
• www.crowcanyon.org/educationproducts/peoples_mesa_verde/intro.asp

Conservation

Mesa Verde is one of the best known and most extensive ancestral Puebloan sites in the country. Some of the ruins are massive. Because many of these sites are completely exposed to the elements (wind, rain, vegetation, and rodents), the mud mortar within the masonry joints eventually erodes and must be replaced in order to maintain the integrity of the architecture.

This is a hands-on conservation opportunity that seldom is extended to members of the public and is therefore a real opportunity to participate in conservation in a very meaningful way.

As a participant in this stabilization project, you will be making a contribution to the preservation of some of the best examples of Mesa Verde-style ancestral Pueblo architecture seen anywhere in the southwest! The replacement of mortar within the masonry joints will help preserve these structures for at least 15-20 years before another cycle of preservation maintenance is needed.

Come and join the preservation team for a week in beautiful southwest Colorado!

Trip Price

See the How to Apply for an Outing section for more details on registering for this trip and details about our Reservation and Cancellation Policy.

The payment of a deposit does not confirm you as a member on the trip. Participants must be approved by the trip leader. After signing up for this trip, you will be sent a confirmation packet containing approval materials (Participant Approval Questionnaire, Medical Form, Liability Release Form). Each applicant (including those on the waitlist) must fill out these forms and promptly mail them to the trip leader. The leader will review the approval materials and notify you of your acceptance in a timely manner.

Staff

Leader:

Larry Wiseman has been exploring Canyonlands and the Southwest for more than 30 years, including eight Sierra Club archaeological service outings and a Cataract Canyon tamarisk removal trip. He has run a couple of marathons and seven half-marathons to stay in physical shape, attended a ten-day meditation retreat to stay in mental shape, and taught two Rock Art courses. A retired Professor and Chair of Biology, his ongoing post-retirement project is finding and photographing rock art birds -- especially owls -- in the Southwest and Central Rocky Mountains. He and his wife split the year between Williamsburg, Virginia, and Fort Collins, Colorado, where he continues to teach Cell Biology.

E-mail: llwise@gmail.com

Co-Leader:

Nancy Wiseman has been visiting, hiking, and camping in Utah and Colorado for more than 25 years, including recent service trips in Canyonlands and Mesa Verde National Parks. A licensed professional counselor in Virginia, she spends time each year at her second home in northern Colorado and with her daughter, an archaeologist with the U.S. Forest Service in Wyoming.

E-mail: nawise@gmail.com

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General Notes About Sierra Club Trips

• Carbon Offsets
• Carpooling
• Electronic Devices
• Equipment
• How to Apply for a Trip
• Leader Gratuities
• Liability Release and Assumption of Risk
• Medical Issues
• Non-discrimination Statement
• Participant Approval
• Reservation and Cancellation Policy
• Seller of Travel Disclosure
• Travel Insurance
• Trip Feedback
• Wilderness Manners