Thank you for your great work! I just got home from Island in the Sky at Canyonlands and Hovenweep after watching your videos. You have inspired me to explore and discover the wonders of the west and I am planning my next adventure based on your videos and experiences. Thank you so much and don’t ever stop filming!
I've been reading a book called 1491, and it really gives you an appreciation of what was here for 1000s of years before Columbus. These look incredible and it would have been amazing to see them in their day.
I worked at the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose, CO for a while but never got to Hovenweep. Thanks for the tour. I remember seeing the Sleeping Ute mountain on my trips to AZ. Also made some friends from the Ute Mountain Utes and the Southern Utes near Durango. Very cool tour including the snake.
You are correct, the evergreen vegetation to which you referred are the ubiquitous juniper (as you noted, the cone shaped tree) and the other evergreen tree growing along with junipers in the U.S. southwest high deserts are the Pinion Pine. The Pinion tree supplies the pinion pine nut (seed) highly nutritious food source for ancient peoples, and wildlife as well.
Many of the round structures with small openings were used for food storage. The way they were built helped keep small animals and rodents out. They would dry beans , corn berries and other fruits that could be dried. Doing this provided food for the long winter months.
My wife and I found Hovenweep during our trip in April driving between Moab and Durango. It turned into one of the highlights of our trip. Luckily we missed the snakes but have seen plenty over the years in NM and TX. Keep up the great work.
I'm surprised that you don't have more views as your channel is excellent...I noticed you have 10 percent likes of your view numbers...I think you should remind viewers to hit the like button...😊
Like I said before, I just got back from utah, Nev, Mohave Preserve, Arizona, and NM. Expecting to see a rattler, never saw one ! Was ready , though. Hovenweep is now on my list for another trip ! Thanks
Great photography Glen. good catch on the sunbathing prairie maraca shaker 🐍. I lived in Cal desert and came across several Mohave greens. The sound is one you will never forget.
Great video, we’re going out west in a few weeks and I’ve been watching your videos of places on our itinerary. Don’t care to see the snakes but I know they are there!😖
As always, the two of you really deliver a fantastic experience! What a cool and beautiful place. The spacing, designs, and purpose of all these buildings is such a mystery. The builders made deliberate and informed choices I’m sure, but it’s so hard to determine what they were about. Of course, 800 years from now when space travelers find old hard drives filled with videos of cats riding Roombas, they’ll wonder about us too.
Haven't commented in while :) Great video as always. The sign you point out mentioning the sound of the resident's of the time reminds me of the Agua Fria/Perry Mesa area. As you are well aware that is such a wonderful place to go now as you can spend so much time there and not run into another person(my daughter and I running into you being something of a fluke! Ha ha)but at the time when the many ruins were built it would have been a bit of a metropolis. The Phoenix of the time if you will :)
I imagine a lot of areas like these were quite a busy area at times. Lots of activity and daily chores to keep things running smoothly. Glad to hear from you! 😄👍
Have loved all your videos and explorations since first discovering your channel. Can't til the next one. Keep up the great work and awesome narrations!
@9:00 the park service says they don't know what these structures were used for, but if they bothered to ask the Navajo (look up the Navajo Traditional Teachings channel), they would tell you that those are granaries for storing food stuffs. Also, the Navajo will tell you that the reason why there is similar architecture at Chaco Canyon is because the Chaco people enslaved other natives in the area and forced them to build the structures at Chaco. There are several different building styles at Chaco Canyon. The old Navajo man said that the rulers of Chaco Canyon "worshipped the darkness." So, I wouldn't compare them to these other peoples, their descendants probably don't want to be associated with the evil people who ruled Chaco Canyon. As for the rattlesnake, yes, it's a juvenile. the more rings on the rattle, the older it is. The younger ones are more dangerous than the older bigger ones. They don't have as much control over how much venom they put out, and so you can wind up with a bigger dose of rattlesnake toxin with a juvenile snake than with an adult.
They were defensive structures to "Guard" if you will the water sources in the area. During the 1300's, there were nomadic people that put a strain on the meager resources available. The Zuni have a history of these people that essentially raided settlements. There is some evidence that Chaco Canyon was abandoned due to raiding parties.
Nope. National Monuments are federal land and drones are not allowed to take off, land, or fly around them. There are a lot of rules about where you can and cannot fly so that means the drone must stay packed up at a number of places we go.
Great video as always! One question. Any idea how they got water at these habitats? Did you see any remnants of where water could have ran through the area? I’m always curious of where these people got water to survive deep in the Arizona deserts 700 years ago. Thanks! 🙌🏽
Not entirely sure about the water, however, I imagine the climate and landscape probably looked different all those centuries ago so I imagine there was water somewhere nearby.
GREAT 👍 video Amy & Glenn! You have captured the ancient Hovenweep so beautifully! Thank you! (A few years ago, my husband and I drove out to find this place and had to see it in a downpour of rain. Obviously, I’d like to return to experience Hovenweep again, sans ☔️ rain.) Love this content so much. Your appreciation of the Ancestral Puebloan cultures is similar to my own.) Cheers from central Oklahoma.
Oh no! Seeing them in a downpour is no fun. Sounds similar to our experience with Mesa Verde. The weather wasn't cooperating. Hopefully you get a chance to see Hovenweep again with perfect weather! 😄🤞
Like the content but really don’t appreciate you using the term “Indians”. Please consider using a respectful term like “First Nations”, heck even “Native American” is better than “Indian” 🤦🏾♂️
Thanks. We do strive to be PC on the channel, but it’s easy to overlook sometimes. We are taking your suggestion and updating the title of the video and agree with your point of view. Thanks for your feedback.
@@CactusAtlas Maybe you should ask actual native Americans what they want to be called, instead of kowtowing to someone who probably doesn't even know any Indians, let alone is one. As I said above, you could also ask them what these sites are about instead of guessing. The absurdity of this age is up to 11. 🙄
