In case you haven't noticed, I make very little attempt at accuracy when talking about anything contained in my website. Neither do I try to inform all my faithful fans about anything useful about the places we go, or the things we see or do or the people we meet. There are lots of resources on the Internet for those of you who actually want to learn something. For instance, if you click http://www.nps.gov/meve/ it will take you to the National Park Service site for Mesa Verde National Park, and from there you can easily navigate to NPS sites for other National Parks, Monuments and Forests. If you're feeling really curious and adventuresome, just go to the search engine Google, http://www.google.com/ , and type in "Mesa Verde National Park" and you'll have access to more than you ever wanted to know about this great place.
So, with that said, here is some inaccurate and useless information, along with photos, regarding our stay at Mesa Verde.
Camping Spot
We camped here in one of the 420 or so camp sites in the park. This is one of the maybe four (remember, accuracy is not one of my strong points) site with a little shade and a remote chance of getting fairly level.
Park Point
Lorri and I at Park Point, the highest point in the Park. If it weren't for the haze and smoke from all the nearby fires, from this point we could have seen all the way to Las Vegas, maybe.
Spruce Tree House
The Spruce Tree House is situated in a forest of pinion pine and juniper (this is true). We took the short self-guided hike/tour from the canyon rim.
The cliff dwellings are tucked in naturally occurring alcoves. The photo at the left gives an idea of the scale of these things. The Spruce Tree House is the third largest in the Park. Lorri on the trail in the middle photo. On the right in the foreground are holes with ladders that lead down into kivas, which the guidebooks call "ceremonial chambers".
More ruins on the left with an intact kiva; on the right, an exposed kiva showing the typical layout.
Small Ruin
The cliffs are dotted with numerous smaller dwellings similar to the one above.
Cliff Palace
We took a guided tour of Cliff Palace, the only way you can get close to it.
From above and below.
Ranger Becky on the left and the escape from Cliff Palace ladder on the right. That's Lorri at the top trying to jiggle the ladder so that I fall off.
Petroglyph Point Trail
I would recommend that everyone who can walk for three miles and isn't more than two or three feet wide take a hike on the Petroglyph Point Trail. It's an interesting, beautiful and well-maintained trail. Be sure to spend the 50 cents for the Trail Guide so you can read about all the stuff you'll see.
Narrow passageways and parts of the trail.
The Petroglyphs
Intermission
These photos were taken from our room at the luxurious Econo Lodge in Cortez, CO, where we stayed on Saturday night to rest up before the Rally. We sat looking out the window sipping our cocktails watching for Sportsmobiles to go by. Who says we're not an exciting couple? Note the retro Denny's across the street.
