Mesa Verde magic
Trip Start
Aug 13, 2007
1
47
81
Trip End
Nov 12, 2007
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Mancos,
Colorado,
United States
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Got away by 9am and drove up a long winding road to the top of the Mesa, past rocky buttes and fall coloured shrubs dotting the rolling landscape. We stopped at the visitor centre, got the kids their Junior Ranger workbooks and bought tickets to the Cliff Palace tour. We drove down to the parking lot of the Cliff Palace tour, and spotted either a female elk, or a mule deer, happily munching at the side of the road. She gave us the eye as we came to a stop and whipped our camera out, before ambling gracefully off into the stunted trees at the side of the road. The ranger that took us on the tour was called Sarah, and she was a pleasure to listen to. Interesting and entertaining, she was passionate about the area and the Ancestral Pueblo people that had lived all around the Mesa Verde area. The Cliff Palace dates back to the year 1200, and it is an amazing and surreal experience just to see it, let alone walk through it. Archaeologists are not sure what Cliff Palace was used for, though they are pretty sure it wasn't a ancient housing estate like some of the other nearby structures. They think it may have been a community meeting place where folks came to talk & trade. To get to Cliff Palace you have to go down a series of metal steps and then steep, uneven steps hacked into the sandstone - still a better deal than the tiny hand & toe holds that the Ancestral Pueblo used to scale the cliffs up & down! To get out of the Palace, you had to edge through a narrow crack and up steep stairs & finally up 3 ladders, by which time you were out of breath because of the altitude.
The Awesome Cliff Palace
After seeing Cliff Palace we decided that we wanted to do the Balcony House tour - originally we thought it would be too hard for the kids (lots of ladders, a crawl space to get through and steep steps) but after talking to a couple of rangers (who told us it was usually the adults who had a hard time with these things, kids were fine) we thought we'd go for it. Before going on the Balcony House tour we drove around one of the loop roads that over look more cliff houses & structures - just awesome. We joined the Balcony House tour and headed down a number of steep metal steps and then along a path until we came to the bottom of a 60 ft ladder going up just about vertical to the cliff dwelling above. Now if you know me, you know I do not like heights & ladders (happy to look out of a viewing platform in a skyscraper, HATE anything I know I can fall off of!), so my legs were starting to shake while waiting for my turn to climb it. This was a wide ladder and you went two up at a time. Josh and Kate went at the same time, with Fred right behind Kate. A nice man asked me if I wanted him to go right behind Josh, but by that time Josh was halfway up the ladder! Both kids were not at all scared! My heart was thudding as I started up, and I was gripping that ladder to death. But I was NOT going to be the first one to freeze on the ladder and to suffer the humiliation of having to be led back the way we had come by the ranger! So the thought of embarrassment conquered my fear of the ladder & I made it! Boy, was it nice to be on solid ground, even if that ground under my feet was 800 year old reclaimed ground! The view from the top was worth it to, and it was just awe-inspiring and such a privilege to be in a place with so much history.
Sarah the ranger
After we looked around there, the ranger led us through this narrow passage (we had to crawl through on hands and knees for a little while, ok for short people like me, but must have been a bit of a worry for some of the taller, huskier guys in our group) and then up another set of steep steps hacked into the sandstone (by the National park people years ago) and then at last up a final ladder to the top. Next we went on to the Spruce Tree House, and on the way we were lucky enough to see a coyote (or maybe a fox) crossing the road - he was small, golden tan and very hard to spot again once in the trees. Evidently is is quite rare to see one. We walked down the winding hill to see the Spruce Tree house (another one dating back to the 1200's and it was a place where people lived). This had a Kiva that we could climb down into, complete with a reconstructed roof, so it really gave you an idea of how these people lived. A Kiva is a ceremonial structure sunk into the ground and we saw lots of these in Cliff Palace & Balcony house, but all of them had no roof surviving the test of time. Then a quick trip through the museum so the kids could complete their Junior ranger badges. They had to say the Junior Ranger pledge this time and that was soooo cute to watch! All in all a fantastic day - 9 hours up on the Mesa, but a priceless experience.
Comments
Ladders
Hi All,
good on you Tracey for conquering those nerves and climbing those ladders.I know what its like when your legs start to shake. What an absolutely awesome experience at Mesa Verde. In your 12hr day, you managed to fit in a whole lot. Your photos are stunning, cant help but looking at them over and over again. - M.G. -