Green River Canoe Trip part 2 of 3 - Anasazi Ruins

Native ruins dot the trip down the Green River. You can see remnants of granaries high up on the cliff walls in a number of locations. The first place we stopped to see ruins was at Fort Bottom. The lowlands along the river are called "bottoms" and Fort Bottom was where they had lived 700 to 1500 years ago. No doubt they had trees and cultivated the lowlands which occupy a peninsula as the river makes a huge 180 degree turn here. For protection, they had constructed a "fort" atop the mesa, a place which gave them sweeping vantage over all approaches by land or water. My guess is they had lookouts posted up top at all times, and this round stone "fort" was constructed for defensive purposes. Lou is pictured here and gives the fort's size perspective...



At Turk's head we found the most extensive evidence of ancient life. The cliff wall in this photo has three dwellings -- notice the doorways located in the middle of the photo...



... and the next 2 shots show closeups...







Climbing higher takes you atop the mesa which is several football fields in size and is littered with flint rock. This was obviously their "factory" for fabricating tools and weapons, and broken-off pieces can be seen on the ground, and if you are lucky, you might even see some arrowheads or spear points. Since this is within Canyonlands National Park, enjoy but don't remove anything! The views are among the best along the river as seen here...



Finally, we found this ruin about partway up the cliff in Jasper Canyon...



Part 1 of Green River post

Part 3 of Green River post