Mikal, 7 months ago to hiking

Took a little hike today down Slickhorn Canyon, a place I've wanted to go for many, many years. Hiked down what known as the first canyon, went back up the second canyon and then cut cross country due North to get back to the truck.

Hiked up to Perfect Kiva, an Ancestral Puebloan ruin that had been occupied for over 1000 years, but abandoned 800 years ago.

The kiva is in perfect shape, hence the name. The original ladder was taken to a museum in the '80s and replaced with the replica you see in the photos. In general, you don't want to enter these places because they are fragile, but this is one of the well known, oft-visited ones where it's OK to do so. Just don't touch the fragile plaster on the walls.

The second photo is the top of the kiva looking out toward SlickHorn Canyon. Note the two poles of the ladder protruding from the access hole.

#CedarMesa #ColoradoPlateau #CanyonCountry #BearEars #Hiking #PublicLands

The view from deep in an enormous alcove high on a canyon wall. Looking down, The canyon walls are reddish brown, charcoal and gray layers of sandstone with small scattered pinion pines and junipers on the ledges. In the foreground, the surface of the alcove is flat and dusty. There is a circle of small stones about 10 feet across marking the location of the kiva in the previous picture. The stones are to keep people from walking on the fragile roof because it is not at all obvious that there is a room under there. A small hole can be seen at the far edge of the circle of stones with two poles protruding. This is the access hole and the ladder from the previous photo.