Blogs from Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, United States, North America - page 5

Arrived at Mesa Verde in the early morning on the 9th. Proceeded to the Far View Visitors Center to purchase tickets to go on the three ranger guided tours. I decided to do one of the tours on the first day and two on the second. I took a ton of pictures, and it will be easier to explain things there, but I will give some insights here. First, if you have never been to Mesa Verde, try to get there sometime. It is really incredible. Second, the rangers here really love their jobs. The rangers who guided the tours all had unique stories to tell, and you could tell that they had gone to extra efforts to learn about the park and the people who lived there. One of the rangers had many stories to ... read more

Made a quick trip to Mesa Verde this weekend. Drove my mother and sister up for employment. I flew back to Houston on 5/26 (actually, I’m in Denver on a 3 hour layover, hoping to get home today). Saturday the 23rd we drove to Tucumcari. Long drive for me, long ride for them. Sunday morning we drove by what once was my mother’s cousins house. A very disappointing experience. Herbert is long gone but the house is still there. The giant trees are gone and the front yard is considerably smaller due to a widening of the road some years back. Also, the house has had a brick veneer added. Herbert was the only child of Neal Smith (my mother’s uncle by marriage) to survive to adulthood. Neal Smith homesteaded near Duran near the turn of ... read more

Spruce Tree House at Mesa Verde is the third largest cliff dweller ruin and is a favorite as it is located near a variety of visitor services including the Chapin Mesa Museum, gift shop, and food service. There is a paved trail leading down into Spruce Tree Canyon. This trail also is the starting point for two hiking trails, the Petroglyph Point Trail and the Spruce Canyon Trail. Many of the common plants growing in the canyon are also identified along the paved trail, making this a Botany Trail also. Some of the key plants in this area are: The Pinon Pine is one of the most common trees growing in the southwest. Every three to seven years it produces a crop of tasty nutritious nuts. These nuts are popular even today. The logs of the ... read more

Mesa Verde National Park has the largest cliff dwellings in North America. These cliff dwellings were the homes of the Anasazi people. It is really a remarkable thing to look back into the past.... read more

Another early start today, we got ready and packed the trailer to head off. Drove most of the day and arrived in Mesa Verde National Park late in the afternoon, None of us knew what to expect in this National Park, we’d never heard of it before. We walked along the trail down a hill until we reached a lookout point. From here we could see a large valley and in the valley walls a small city made out of stone had been built into the cliff. It didn’t look real from the view up on the lookout point it was a spectacular sight. We waited here until the tour guide came, we had just made it for the last tour of the day. She took us down ladders to the stone city and we sat ... read more