I have often looked at the pictures of the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde Park and wanted to see them. A book by Nevada Barr about a National Park Ranger working in the park also made me really interested in seeing the ancient sites. I guess I never put the “Mesa” part into my understanding of where these villages really are. We drove up and up more until we were on top of the mountain on a large flat plateau – a mesa. The cliff houses are built under ledges which are sometimes hundreds of feet below the lip of the top of the mesa.
We started by driving around and looking out across canyons to see some of the cliff dwellings. Then went to the Visitor Center to learn that to tour most of them we needed to get tickets for a guided tour. We were warned that the tours were “strenuous” and “challenging.” Remember – we are at 8100’ and just climbing into the RV is “strenuous” and “challenging,” However, this visit has been on my Life List of things I really want to do so we signed up for the tour which included a 100’ descent, a ½ mile walk over uneven path, and then an ascent up 5 ladders. (The other tour included a crawl through a 18” hole for 12’. I don’t think my body fits in an 18” hole).
After a “last lunch” we headed off for our tour. We were somewhat reassured since there were plenty of other senior citizens on the tour. We started down some steps which quickly turned into stone steps about 5” wide and uneven depth. Sometimes we had to squeeze ourselves between two rock walls to get down, down, down into the area under the lip of the cliff. All of us were panting by the time we got to the bottom and the afternoon sun was quite hot so we stopped for a chat with the guide in the shade. Soon we moved into the large area which at one time had 100 people living there. It was truly amazing. I had a few minutes of absolute awe and then began to worry about the ascent of 100’ back up some very authentic wooden ladders made of tree branches stripped of bark. We were told not to look out over the canyon on part of the trip up.
So we both made it and have pictures to prove it. One more life challenge checked off.
After two bottles of water and a quart of juice I am re-hydrated and ready for our drive to Moab tomorrow. National Park #2.
We started by driving around and looking out across canyons to see some of the cliff dwellings. Then went to the Visitor Center to learn that to tour most of them we needed to get tickets for a guided tour. We were warned that the tours were “strenuous” and “challenging.” Remember – we are at 8100’ and just climbing into the RV is “strenuous” and “challenging,” However, this visit has been on my Life List of things I really want to do so we signed up for the tour which included a 100’ descent, a ½ mile walk over uneven path, and then an ascent up 5 ladders. (The other tour included a crawl through a 18” hole for 12’. I don’t think my body fits in an 18” hole).
After a “last lunch” we headed off for our tour. We were somewhat reassured since there were plenty of other senior citizens on the tour. We started down some steps which quickly turned into stone steps about 5” wide and uneven depth. Sometimes we had to squeeze ourselves between two rock walls to get down, down, down into the area under the lip of the cliff. All of us were panting by the time we got to the bottom and the afternoon sun was quite hot so we stopped for a chat with the guide in the shade. Soon we moved into the large area which at one time had 100 people living there. It was truly amazing. I had a few minutes of absolute awe and then began to worry about the ascent of 100’ back up some very authentic wooden ladders made of tree branches stripped of bark. We were told not to look out over the canyon on part of the trip up.
So we both made it and have pictures to prove it. One more life challenge checked off.
After two bottles of water and a quart of juice I am re-hydrated and ready for our drive to Moab tomorrow. National Park #2.
1 comment:
You should post a couple of the pictures! I'd love to see a couple of them and you and dad.
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