#mesa verde
In southwest Colorado less than an hour away from the city of Durango is a mysterious group of cliff dwellings in the canyons of the table top mesas. These are the best preserved Ancestral Puebloan archaeological sites in the United states.
The national park site for Mesa Verde does an amazing job at introducing the wonder of the park.
https://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm
I arrived at the park May 10th 2018 and stayed at the Morefield campground inside the national park for two nights. Its a wonderful campground. Most the sites will only hold one large tent or two small two-man tents. It has free showers, flushable toilets, and coin laundry.
On May 11th we explore the park. You’re allowed to buy tickets(they are only $5 a person) to take a tour into the cliff dwellings which are lead by a ranger. The only tour available was for the balcony house. I recommend taking one of these tours because you’re not allowed in the dwellings unless with a ranger. Its only an hour and worth your time. It is a little difficult since you have two climb one 30ft ladder, two 15ft ladders, and crawl through a claustrophobic tunnel. Regardless of those few precautions its an incredible feelings to stand in the dwelling.
You’ll be spending the day learning about the history of the pueblo people and exploring their past. When it comes to hiking there isn’t much. Its a very spiritual place.
Photos to be posted. Message me with any questions about the park.
Adventure on!
We had about a 4 hour drive from Great Sand Dunes National Park to Mesa Verde National Park. The directions took us down route 160, such a beautiful drive. The winding road takes you right through the Rio Grande And San Juan National Forests. About 2 hours into the drive we stopped at a local farmers market and got some delicious food and checked out some crafts made by the local artisans. Lots of beautiful hand made items.
We booked two tours at Mesa Verde National Park. The first tour we took “Balcony House” was incredible. Starting off the tour with a 30 foot wooden ladder that takes you right into the heart of the cave dwellings. The Puebloan’ s created these insanely beautiful seated dwellings in the 12th century. It’s pretty cool that 800 years later we can be blown away in awe by their creations. The second tour was called “Cliff Palace” which is the largest Native American cave dwelling in North America.
Needless to say Jess and I can’t get over how cool Mesa Verde is. Tomorrow we are off to Arches National Park. Which we didn’t plan on going to. I think that’s the best part of this trip, freedom. Rolling with the punches…
Feels nice that the weather cooled down as the sun dropped behind the mountains. Can’t wait to crawl into bed..
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