28 Jul 2023 - RODEO!! Montezuma County Fair; Mesa Verde Cliff Palace Loop and Mesa Top Loop

 

Today we ventured back into Mesa Verde National Park and explored both the Cliff Palace Loop and the Mesa Top Loop.  We will revisit the Cliff Palace Loop Sunday when we do the Cliff Palace hike, but it was nice to figure out where we need to be on Sunday and about how long it will take us to get there.  

The Cliff Palace Loop is a 6 mile loop that provides access to the Cliff Palace cliff dwellings and the Balcony House cliff dwellings, among others.  It took us about 45 minutes to get there with another day of one-lane road construction, but it was not as long as yesterday.  We has about 40 vehicles ahead of us.  The construction crews were working hard to better the roads for all of us, all in the hot sun!

When we entered the Cliff Palace loop we first stopped at the Cliff Palace trail where we will meet the park ranger Sunday. 

We headed down the trail as far as we were allowed to go without being on the tour today.  There was a large group listening to the Ranger explaining the history and what to expect on the hike.  

We loaded back up and headed around the loop further and stopped at the House of Many Windows viewpoint.  Here we could see four doors of the remaining 15 rooms, at a distance.  There are cliff dwellings everywhere up here! 

  Next around the loop was the Balcony House, but we were standing directly above it and could not see it.  The Balcony House is one of the three ranger-led tours you can take if you get tickets in advance and they sell out well in advance.  This is also one of the two 'strenuous' hikes. 

 

You can see part of the trail that leads to the Balcony House.

The sign which blocks off the trail except for ranger-led hikes.

We finished up in the Cliff Palace loop and headed to the Mesa Top loop.  The roads up here are amazing,  They look like they were refinished yesterday!  

The Mesa Top loop is also 6 miles.  The first stop was the Navajo Canyon Overlook.  The geology is amazing.  I try to imagine how the natives navigated this terrain.  

Next stop was the Mesa Top Sites, which include three distinct villages (pueblos).  They have preserved the remains of these and some of them are within a building,  

We continued around Mesa Top Loop and stopped at Sun Point View.  Incredible!  

After Sun Point View we headed back towards the park entrance and again sat in line for the construction.  We were 25 vehicles behind the pilot car as we made our way down the newly oils and graveled side of the road.  Some of the vehicles we met were construction vehicles.  One of them gave us a little 'kiss' with another  rock on the windshield, bless their heart...  Someone say deja vu??

 

Dang it!

Back at the campground we were able to move spots today rather than waiting until Sunday as we will be headed for our tour then.  The move went seamlessly and we are now all set up in site 11.  Following the move we had a late lunch and then caught up on doggie walks, computer work, etc and basically took a break in preparation for our big evening - the County Fair and RODEO!!!  

Tonight we drove just a few miles west towards Cortez and attended the Montezuma County Fair!  There was no charge to attend and there was no charge to park!  The fair wraps up this weekend, so it appeared that things were winding down a bit.  We walked by the implement display and then through the RV area to the livestock barns.  

The first one we toured was the sheep and goat exhibits.  The judging has been completed and the blue ribbon winners had been awarded.  

Check out the beautiful markings on this goat named Charlotte!  

Kaydence must have been very proud!!

This guy looked like he had been dipped in white paint half way up!  So unique!

Most of the sheep had coats and masks on.  

Strange looking with the muzzles/masks on.

The next building we toured was the rabbits, chickens, ducks, quail and other fowl.  

Our grand daughter Hailee used to have a rabbit named Mocha!

Now this is just wrong!  In the middle of the rabbit display 

and they post a recipe for 'Grilled Garlic Rabbit'!!  Come on!!

Ducks of all sorts!

Great looking chickens!

Albino quail?!

We moved buildings and found the hogs chilling with a cool water mist!  A lot of the animals looked very hot, especially the rabbits and chickens.  

Next stop was the arena area where the rodeo was getting ready to start.  There were row after row of livestock trailers.  We saw calves penned up and horses all about.

There were a few food vendors behind the grandstand.  The vendors laughed when we said we were from Iowa.  Everyone has heard of the Iowa State Fair!!  This is just a county fair so expectations are adjusted accordingly!

Doreen ordered a loaded nacho and I had a chili dog with a dill pickle.  We both had sodas and our whole bill was $15!  Cheap date!

We made our way to the grandstand to eat supper and get ready for the rodeo.  The feature event was calf roping/branding.  

Having never been a part of this, it took a bit to figure out what was going on, but basically they identified the teams that had signed up.  Then the teams showed up in the arena  (not all of the teams showed).  Then they announced them, gave them some instructions and then 'auctioned off'' the teams.  There were 10 teams and two of the teams auctioned for over $1000.  Other for a few hundred.  Apparently the proceeds go to funding the prize money for the winning teams and the bidder.

Each of the 10 teams rode into the arena area and the bidding commenced!  After that, a young lady sang the National Anthem.  Everyone stood, hats off, hands on their hearts.  No one took a knee,  Nuf said.  Then the calf roping/branding began. 

The pen holds a dozen or so calves with numbers on them.  The announcer called off a calf  number, the clock starts and the first team competes.  One of the team members rides into the pen, attempts to single out the specific calf, lasso them around their rear legs and then gently drag them outside the pen, humanely of course.  Once they are outside the pen they are 'roped' and then one of the team members fetches a simulated branding iron and 'brands' them.  Then they are released and placed back in the pen.  Then the clock stops.  The time is noted and then the next team competes. 

The cowboy finds the specific calf, lasso's them and then drags them out of the pen

Roping the calf

Fetching the 'branding iron'

The calf is simulated branded and then put back in the pen and the clock stops

Each team competes this process and then the team with the shortest time wins.  This was fun to watch and see how much the times varied between the teams.  They had three minutes to complete the task.  One team did it in less than 30 seconds start to finish.  Others could not complete it in three minutes.  with all the calves bunching up in the pen it is apparently difficult to get your number singled out and lasso'd!

💘

What a fun time at the fair and the rodeo.  We had a blast and it was so inexpensive.  It is so impressive to see the obvious work these 4H and FFA kids put into their critters, and they are learning core values along the way.  County fairs, state fairs.  Good stuff.  

Tomorrow we may explore Durango.