May 8, 2012

Hi all. Between Monday and Tuesday we managed to get a good look at Mesa Verde. We left Monticello, UT Monday morning and arrived at Mesa Verde National Park. We went straight to the visitor's center and got tickets for Ranger led tours of Cliff Palace and Balcony House. The Ancestral Puebloans lived in the Soda Canyon for around 700 years before they left in the 1200's. It was thought that severe drought was the reason for their leaving. Although Mesa Verde is the best known of the cliff cities, there are many of these structures along the Soda, Spruce and Cliff canyons to name a few. They lived below the cliffs for protection from the elements and lived off the corn, beans and squash that they grew on the cliff tops. For 2 days we really got to appreciate the capabilities of the Ancient Puebloans. If you are ever in the area, Mesa Verde is a MUST SEE.

This is a view of the Cliff Palace from a gathering place for the tour.

Getting closer to cliff palace, one can notice 2 basic structural shapes. The square ones were living spaces while the circular ones known as Kivas were for ceremonial purposes.

All of the structures were made with sandstone rock, clay, water and trees to help make the roofs. This is a closer look at a Kiva at another location, the Balcony house.

The only way out of the Balcony House was through a 12" wide opening in the rock. After that was a 32 step ladder back up to the top of the cliff. Alice squeezed with "No Problem Mon". Whoops how did Bob Marley get in here.

Monday evening we stayed at the Farview Lodge near the top of the mountain. This was the room with a view.

Tuesday we drove around to other lesser known sites. Stopping at the 21st Museum so far on our trip, we saw some of the many artifacts, among them a pair of winter slippers for protection from the cold.

Just below the museum was another dwelling, the Sprucehouse. This one has been somewhat restored to show more of what the original ones looked like. Years ago people could climb further into the cliffs to see more of the rooms but, because of damage, this is no longer allowed except for Archaeologists.

Couldn't resist a shot of the Banana Yucca Plant and flower.

This shows some of the area burned by a lightening started wildfire. Luckily the wind shifted and spared a lot of the Mesa Verde area but, a lot was still burned. A little later on we went on a drive around Cliff Canyon. At one spot looking both ways we could easily see no less than 6 dwellings. Later on we drove to Durango, Co. It is a neat city of about 6000 people that has retained its old-time appearance. We ate at the Old Tymer's Cafe. Had we read a little closer, we could have walked 200 yards to the Durango Brewing Company.