Tue, Oct 4, 2016

Carol and I are camping in a quiet town in SE Utah and didn’t expect to see any local sites of interest. But it turns out there are cliff dwellings just a few minutes away. So TiVo and I went over for a look – and to give Carol some quiet time. There’s no hiding when you live in an Airstream 🙂

Little Westwater Ruin, aka Five Kiva Ruin, is an undeveloped ruin that is located in the Westwater Creek Canyon. Because it is easily accessed and wasn’t preserved, it became party town for the local kids and really shows the abuse.  Nonetheless, it was worth the trip.

The ruins were built by the Anasazi, ancestral Puebloan that were an ancient native american culture in the southwest US.  They are best known for the stone and earth dwellings they built along cliff walls, particularly during the Pueblo II and Pueblo III eras, from about 900 to 1350.  Mesa Verde National Park is perhaps the best known example.