We awoke early enough to the sound of motorhomes pulling out. It was a common sound each morning in National Parks. I began to blog and
Read the next chapter of Nehemiah, chapter 6. Here Nehemiah’s enemies find that all of the gaps have been sealed and that the doors to the gates were being hung. All of there warring could not keep the Lord and the Jews from completing God’s work. So they plotted to kill Nehemiah. If Satan can not keep the family from serving God, he will attack the leader. If not physically, then by demeaning words and attacks on one’s character. The enemy will even use your own against you. We must stay focused on the call and only listen to the Lord when it comes to deviating from the call…then we must pray for our enemies.
All of us then had breakfast and we drove the motorhome to the Cliff Palace trailhead. Along the way we found out why we were here. In the 1200’s, Pueblo indaians built their communities in the overhanging cliffs. They would access these areas by making foot and hand holds in the softer sandstone (softer than granite). They then would mix the earth with water to make mortor and square off rocks as building blocks to build these homes in the cliffs. Not much is known about these communities since their was nothing written down and they have all since moved on. The thought is that they did this for protection from the elements and it allowed them to farm along the top of the mesas. We stopped and viewed the first several structures that remained from a far. This is the House of many windows. You will notice a small structure to the top right. Most communities had these smaller upper structures for storage of food. They were more primitive. We saw several more homes across the gorge specifically Hemenway house, Oak Tree House, and New Fire House then parked at the Balcony house parking lot. We met the ranger named is Mark. He deputized me Junior ranger for the tour and we left.
To get to these communities we had to climb down large ladders and walk along ridges. I could not imagine using foot and hand holds. Once there we were treated to an awesome experience. Most of these ruins were rebuilt to some degree based on the knowledge of ancestors and original foundations. When most of these were discovered in the late 1800’s, there was a lot of rubble, but the base structures were preserved giving an outline to the rooms that were once there. One of the major parts of a pueblo community is the Kiva. It has been a part of the Pueblo community since as early as 550BC. Even though the style of building changed, this one structure remained the same. It was a big hole in the ground that was coverd with a mud roof except for a hole in the center for people to climb into and smoke to exit the enclosed room. It was there religious sanctuary so to speak. This is where they’d ask for rain and other necessities that only the Lord could provide, except they attributed to different earth gods. The ancient Pueblo believed they came form the earth so they wanted to be as close to it as possible. The third picture is one without the lid or top.
As the ranger talked, we noticed No15 carved in many of the formations. A famous photographer of the 1800’s who discovered many of these communities left this so all would know he was there. He was Swedish and his name was Nordenskiold. Hence the “No”. The number represented the different spots he took photos of. Many of them were for sale but very expensive. After exiting Balcony house we decided to ride our bicycles to Cliff house trailhead. 
We missed the turn and rode for a while up and down hill. It was good to get some exercise. Once at Cliff house trailhead, we followed the ranger into Cliff House. It is a community meeting place for all of the local communities the rangers think because of the number of Kivas. It would hold up to 150 people and had 12 kivas.
Later that day we hiked into Spruce house on our own and looked around. It was called Spruce House because there was a gigantic spruce tree that grew out of the community pueblo. It did provide easier access to the mesas above. After this we went back to our site, ate dinner and retired shortly after.
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