Mesa Verde National Park

Not going to do too much writing on this blog post as it will be full of pictures from 2 days in the park on Sept. 7-8. On the 7th I focused on hiking and visiting the Spruce House which is a self guided tour. On the 8th I took 2 guided tours including Balcony House and Cliff Palace.

Knife Edge and Morefield Campground as seen from the Prater Ridge hiking trail.

Sleeping Ute Mountain and the ridge of Mesa Verde from Prater Ridge Trail.

Wildfire has changed much of the scenery in the Park. Wish I could've done this hike with the majority of the Pines and Spruce still present.

San Juan Mountains from Mesa Verde.

The following images are of Spruce House, the best preserved of the cliff dwellings, and Petroglyph Trail which is accessed from Spruce House.

Pardon the people in the picture, couldn't get rid of the darn tourists...

Petroglyph Trail is a bit rough in sections, and requires some light scrambling at the end to regain the ridge.

Looking back up Spruce Canyon.

The petroglyphs which give the trail it's name.

Looking back towards Spruce House from the end of Petroglyph Trail

The following pictures are of Pueblos and Kivas from the Far View sites which sit on top of the mesa. These were the homes of the Anasazi, excuse me Ancestral Puebloans, prior to taking to the cliffs. These pueblos were close to the fields where the Anasazi grew their corn, beans and squash which were the staples of their diets.

You can click on the picture to make it larger so you can read it, mamaw.

Example of a kiva at the Far View Sites.

I liked the small passage between this pueblo and kiva.

Fitting for Colorado...

From Far View sites it was time for my first guided tour of the day; Balcony House. This tour is not for the faint of heart. It begins with a 30' climb up a ladder to the cliff dwelling, narrow passages within the dwelling, crawling on hands and knees to exit followed by another latter, and 60' up to the rim with foot holds and chains to support you. Fun stuff.

Approaching Balcony House

Ladder to access Balcony House

Looking back down at the ladder from Balcony House

How Balcony House got its name.

Chinking in the mortar

This is how you exit Balcony House, on your hands and knees. This was the entrance and exit to balcony house  when the Anasazi lived here. Makes you wonder what drove them to the cliffs, and why they left so abruptly.

The next images are from Cliff Palace. The largest of the cliff dwellings, and the one that has had the most restoration work done on it. Much easier to access than Balcony House.

The Canyon in which Cliff Palace is located.

Cliff Palace with tour group.

Tower to the left provides a good view of people approaching from the south entrance, a second tower to the right watches over the north entrance to the site. The ledge up above the dwelling was food storage.

View of the south end of Cliff Palace with its tower looking over the north entrance.

House of Many Windows which is located south down the Canyon From Cliff Palace. You can see many smaller dwelling such as this clinging to the cliffs. Lookout/guard posts along the approaches to the larger dwellings?

Here's a link to a Smithsonian article if you're interested in why the ancestral puebloans built these structures: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/riddles-of-the-anasazi-85274508/
The tour guides mentioned drought, religion, depletion of natural resources and migration of new peoples into an already stressed area as possible reasons for the sudden departure of the Anasazi. They seemed to steer clear of the evidence of cannibalism and warfare. Remember the crops were on the plateau, not in the canyons. The Anasazi risked injury and death every time they left the cliff dwellings. Something drove these people out of their peublos on the plateau to their cliff fortresses, before they abruptly and mysteriously left all at once. From what I've seen and read I have my own ideas as to what happened to these people. If you have the opportunity visit Mesa Verde yourself, read a bit of history, and imagine the area as it would've been in the 1200's and come to your own conclusions.