MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK

---

If you are at all interested in American Indian cultures and/or archeology, you must put this National Park on your “bucket list”. There are over 4,500 archeological sites within the park with 600 of them being cliff dwellings.

Sunday, May 6th

62 degrees at 10:00 with blue skies. 25054 is our starting mileage.


As we left our camp site, we saw about 7 does in the underbrush/trees in back of the bathrooms. Up, up, up we climbed to the top of the next mesa at about 8,000 feet. Our first overlook was a view of the valley below and a glimpse of the old roadbed along knife edge. The park was a popular place in the early 1900’s for drivers of the new automobiles who wanted to challenge the steep grades of this park.


Only the Chapin Mesa was open to the public at this time, Wetherill Mesa is only open in the summer months. The road on top of Chapin Mesa consisted of 3 one-way loops that give you absolutely great views of the cliff dwellings below in the canyons. If you had the energy, as many visitors had, you could take various trails down to climb inside the dwellings.


We toured the Far View Visitors Center Museum and the Chapin Mesa museum and learned a bit about the Anasazi who lived in and on these canyons and mesas about 1,400 years ago. For more than 700 years they flourished here. Sometimes building the cliff dwellings and sometimes living in villages of adobe-like houses built on top of the mesas. These houses and villages were sometimes built of well carved stone. They farmed crops of beans, corn, and squash and hunted. They domesticated both dogs and turkeys. They traded with others as, sea shells, turquoise, pottery, and cotton from the south has been found here.


By 1300, Mesa Verde was deserted. Why, no one knows, but, they moved south into New Mexico and Arizona and joined with some of their kin already in those locations. They are the ancestors of some of today’s Pueblo and Hopi people. The Far View Museum had several displays of Pueblo jewelry, pots, and other artifacts from more recent times.


After looking through the Chapin mesa museum, we then walked around the back of one of the buildings, where there were covered benches, and had lunch. I sat and people watched and looked at the Spruce Tree House---a complex cliff dwelling in front of us---while Valerie hiked down a bit to get better pictures. This is the best preserved cliff dwelling in the park.


We then got back in Rosie and drove around both the Mesa Top Loop and the Cliff Palace Loop looking at various pit houses, village ruins, and the Cliff Palace and Balcony House cliff dwellings. All and all, a really interesting place!


I need to comment on the wildflowers here, especially the fairly large, foot high, clumps of bright yellow, daisy-like flower called, “mule’s ears.” So, named, for the shape of their leaves. We are so glad we traveled the desert at this time. The temperatures are not too bad yet and the nights are cool. The best thing is that it is spring and the desert, believe it or not, is full of blooming wildflowers mostly along the sides of the road. We have tried to ID them from two wildflower books we have but, we need a specific reference book on desert wildflowers, I think.


We returned to our campsite to find someone else backing into our spot. The nerve!! Couldn’t they see the bright orange cone we had stuck out and the laminated picture of Rosie II that said “occupied” hanging from the post? I got out and spoke with the people who graciously pulled back out so Valerie could pull in. Our neighbor said, “I almost said something when I saw them pull in”. We wondered why didn’t he?? Next time we will place the cone in the middle of the drive into the site. Of course, then you have to get out and move it before you can pull in!

Monday, May 7th

55 degrees and cloudy this morning at 9:45 as we left our campsite and headed out of the park. Starting mileage is 25098.

Drove west along highway 160, stopping for highway construction, back through the town of Cortez and stopping at the McDonalds to use the internet and get a snack. Turned north-west back onto highway 491 and passed by irrigated fields and fields which must be planted in pinto beans based on the signs on the buildings we saw for several miles.


At the town of Monticello, we turned back onto highway 191 again. Both sides of the road now have very interesting cliffs, mesas, dry arroyos, canyons, buttes, and formations of sandstone sitting out in the vast sage growing flat landscape. One such sand stone formation is called “church rock”. Valerie and I thought it looked more like a big, fat, Buddha sitting there. I guess the “church” name is more PC in this very strongly Mormon area.

We turned west onto a paved BLM road and drove several miles to Wind Whistle campground. We saw a small herd of antelope grazing out by the sandstone cliff walls as we went by. Found a good site and settled in. No hook-ups, but pit toilets and drinking water. There was a large group of young people camping nearby our site. Looked like rain, but nothing fell. $6 fee for the night. Hordes of gnats out---urgh!!

---