We pulled out of Durango and drove to Mesa Verde National Park, so designated in 1906, one of the very first fourteen National Parks, back before Park Service was created in 1917; Mesa Verde was designated to “preserve the works of man,” the first national park of its kind. The other first National Parks were all created to preserve natural wonders…
It was a short drive – only 35 miles – but that is the horizontal distance. We also climbed up over 1,000 feet vertically, as the campground was at the top of this mesa…! (Not the top of the rock, just to the mesa behind it…
We are “dry camping” here – no water, sewer, or electrical hook-ups. Thus, there was a plethora of solar panels and generators present around all the Airstreams…
We had little set-up to do, and we soon set out for a 5 hour bus tour of the Mesa Verde Park.
We saw some splendid scenery – the bus tour drove us around the mesa-top and we saw many archaeological remains. Native peoples – the Ancients, or Indians, or Puebloans (pick your terms – I’ll call them Indians, as the locals prefer to be called…) – settled in this area about AD650 and continued to live here until the early 1300s, when they all moved, over about a 20 year period, to Taos, Sante Fe, and the other 17 Pueblos in New Mexico along the Rio Grande River. No one knows for sure why they left, but the obvious reason was to find more fertile land with a reliable water source.
We saw several various structures used by the Indians across the centuries… And I have thousands of photos to prove it…
We saw some cliff dwellings from a distance. But the pay-off for the day was seeing the Cliff Palace, the largest, and best preserved, of the cliff dwellings.
On December 18th, 1888, two cowboys, Richard Wetherill and his brother-in-law Charlie Mason, were riding across the mesa top looking for stray cattle. At the edge of the pinyon and juniper forest they came upon a vast canyon. It looked like this…
Today, it has been restored and reassembled where possible. Basically, they put back up the blocks that had fallen, and they stabilized the ruins.
We assembled for the tour at a platform that offered a closer view…
We were able to get even closer by descending from the mesa about 150 vertical feet into the canyon, climbing down stone steps built by the National Park Service. (Indians used ladders and hand- and foot-holds and climbed up the face of the canyon…)
Once we were at the level of the pueblo, we heard a ranger talk about the history and give us archaeological information. There are 150 rooms, including 19 kivas, or subterranean dwellings with religious significance. The 150 rooms extend back into the cliff over 90 feet…
We proceeded to walk along the base and see the pueblo up close…
Yes – even here there are vigas… more on the vigas tomorrow…
After our final ranger talk, we had to get back up to the mesa again, up 150 feet! We started out on steps, then had to climb three ladders…
Finally we reached the top…
Back at the Villa, we had some visitors…
We returned to the campground, had dinner, and went to bed before it got dark, so we didn’t have to use out batteries… (This dry camping is relatively new to us…)
And an enjoyable time was had by all…
Adventures in the Villa 