The highlight of the self-guided tour is this ceremonial cave, about 200 feet up from the valley floor. There are a few long wooden ladders to climb on the way up. It's a huge semicircular opening; here I'm standing at one end, with a sheer drop to my left. The structure in the foreground is another kiva, and there are two man-sized chambers on either end (I'm standing right in front of one; that's Maz in the one opposite). The acoustics in here are very interesting. With each of us facing the inside of our respective chambers, we could converse in a normal speaking voice, although we were almost 100 feet apart. It sounds like the person is right next to you! A lot of household artifacts were found up here; some folks may have lived up here, maybe for brief periods of religious observation.
I was very pleased with my composition here, until I saw in the gift shop that this exact picture has been taken about a zillion times. This is the roof of the kiva, looking west.
Inside the kiva, I perform that most important modern ritual: trying to get a nice photo. I succeed.
Back down on the valley floor, we are stuck in the park for a spell, as the only road out is closed temporarily while some big trucks are operating (I think they were working on the roadway). So we wander north a bit into the beautiful, quiet old-growth forest. It's so peaceful, with only a few people wandering amongst the big trees, and very interesting indigenous fauna like the tufted squirrel (saw one, but he refused to pose for a photo)... this is also mountain lion country still, but you'd probably have to hang around a long time to spot one. I didn't want to leave- next time I'm around here, I really want to do some hike-in camping.
Next and Last: Rio Grande gorge, etc.
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