Cliff Dwellings

After 3 days in Moab, we head to Cortez, Colorado for a few days. We found a small RV park with room for one more. There were only 7 spots and 6 lived there full time. It was more like a gravel parking lot with power and water but at $35 a night, it suited us just fine. A mile up the road was a famous bike and ATV trail but we chose to visit the national park instead. It was actually a great little place, easy in and out.

Mesa Verde National Park is famous for the cliff dwellings where indiginous people built their homes and communities into the side of the cliffs, most of them several hundred feet above the canyon floor. From the entrance to the park, it is 25 miles to the top, gaining 1,000 feet in elevation to 7,000 feet above sea level. There was snow on the ground but as the day warmed up, it quickly melted away.

As early as the 1880s, explorers and local ranchers made their way up on horseback onto the Mesa following the routes developed by the ancestral Pueblo people, who lived there centuries before. The park was established in 1906 when horse and wagon was the mode of transportation. By 1914, motorvehicles were able to use a newly graded road to reach the top. Today, there are still local tribal people living on the land.

The guided tours of the dwellings closed a week before we arrived but many could still be seen from the walking paths. This picture makes them look like toys, but they are actually quite big.

There were several hikes around the park so we decided to hike out to the petroglyphs, about 2.5 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 174 feet. It was up and down on a narrow and rockey, but well identified trail and was very fun - I felt like a mountain goat.

The petroglyphs were very visible, unlike the ones we searched for in Gorge Harbor, BC.

This picture shows how deep the canyon is and it is hard to imagine anyone traversing these steep walls. Very impressive.