Rites of Spring

Lots of things happen at this time of year. Besides persistent, incessant dust storms and snow on the 24th of May, I mean!

Yesterday afternoon was the occasion of the graduation of the 100th high school since the Mancos High School was built in 1909; it is the oldest continuously operating high school in the State of Colorado. Two of the 22 members of the graduating class were the fourth generation in their respective families to graduate from Mancos. One of the special honorees was Harry Halls, who dropped out of school to help his family during the Great Depression. Now about 95, Harry received an honorary diploma from Mancos School Board President Chris Kloster. He was joined on the stage by Bob Beers, the oldest living graduate of MHS.

This Thursday night is the SW Open School graduation. I'm looking forward to being able to attend this one!

Last Tuesday, as a concessioner tour guide, I sat in on training for NPS seasonals. the second picture from the bottom shows our group in Cliff Palace. Above that is a few members of the group going to the cliff-edge of Soda Canyon to see the hand-and-toe-hold trail used to get in and out of Balcony House prehistorically. Kinda scary just to be looking at the trail on the side of a 700-foot deep canyon; hard to imagine what it would have been like to actually climb it!

For some, the climb up the ladder to get into Balcony House today is bad enough. Lots better than the original trail!

Balcony House is just neat! It's small, intimate and you get to go in the back of it. At Cliff Palace and Spruce Tree House, you only walk across the front of the cliff dwelling.

Wednesday's talks about Navajo and Pueblo culture were much more interesting. Especially Rina Swentzell, the lady shown at top. Rina is a Santa Clara Pueblo (a Tewa-speaking pueblo) who is trained as an architect. Her insights into both Pueblo and Western cultures are wonderful! I've met and heard her before, but it's been more than 20 years.

Participating in the training was interesting for me. I was a seasonal ranger at Mesa Verde in 1966. The story and the working environment was much different then. One of the big differences was that the tour sizes were unlimited. One day I had 140 people on my tour of Cliff Palace, there were 112 in the group ahead of me and more than 100 in the group behind. Instead of the 60 or so people you see in the picture above, imagine looking at about 2oo more people, plus another 100 around you that you don't see. It's good that they limit the tours now. tv