This was our second visit to Mesa Verde, the first when Jeff and Cheryl were young. Cheryl shared her memories of climbing up to the sites. We arrived early in the season and only one guided hike to the cliff dwellings was available, a steep climb that includes crawling through a 12-foot tunnel and climbing up a 60-foot open rock face (any bets on whether we did this?).
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Mesa Verde, green table in Spanish, consists of cliff dwellings constructed by Ancestral Pueblo People between 600 - 1300 AD. These are some of the best preserved sites in the US. In viewing the cliff dwellings, we observed the development of homes from basic "dug out" shelters to more complex communities housing large extended families with storage for food and kivas for group or ceremonial events.
We drove around the park stopping along the way to view the dwelling sites.
The Cliff Palace
A Kiva in Cliff Palace
Ravens swept overhead.
A view of the area
Balcony House complex. Note the ladder you have to climb in the lower right of the photo.
Details of the stonework
Square Tower House was built about 1200-1300
Sun Temple may have been an astronomy observatory.
Bennett earned his Junior Ranger badge by viewing sites, answering important questions about being a responsible visitor, and take an oath to treat people and the park with respect.
Our overnight stop was along the flood-threatening Cucharas river in southwestern Colorado.
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