Mesa Verde National Park-- Colorado - Chapin Mesa

Mesa Verde National Park is the largest archaeological preserve in the United States.  

The drive into the park is both winding and hilly with sharp turns at 15 mph..  Depending on your park destination you can travel anywhere from 15-28 miles.  

Park Point Fire lookout  is the highest elevation in the park.

The views from the top are stunning! 

The tower is staffed during the season from May to September. 

Another view from Lookout Point.  The photo looks like a painting.

PETROGLYPH TRAIL HIKE 

A hiker beginning at the trail head.  Remember these steps.  You will see many of these throughout the trail.

On this trail you will be introduced to the natural environment of the Mesa Verde and the ways it was used by the Indians. 

Some of the steps are narrow and steep.

Here's Kathy descending the steps.   

An "inukshuk" is an Inuit word that literally translated means "stone man that points the way."  We see these many times during our hikes so we know we are on-trial and things are safe.  Not sure it means anything when we are hiking in Bear country.

We took a photo of this cliff dwelling during our hike.  This is the reason people visit the park and you will see many more in this post.  

We thought this would be an easy hike, but we were both surprised by the difficulty of the hike.

We are approaching Petroglyph Point and you can start to see the panel above Kathy's hat.

Pictograph Point is the largest and best known group of petroglyphs in Mesa Verde.  The panel is misnamed because pictographs are painted on the rocks whereas petroglyphs are carved into the rocks,   

I am standing on a location that requires you to climb up rocks to get to the next level.  I am here to offer my help to an older couple that was looking at the Pictographs when we were there.  After a little coaching, they safely got to the next level.

Here's we are traveling along pygmy forest due to its lack of tall trees.  We believed that the trail is much longer than described in the trail guide. 

Our final path leads us across a small ledge back to the parking area.

SPRUCE TREE HOUSE

Here we are approaching Spruce Tree House. The Puebloans inhabited Mesa Verde between 600 to 1300 AD, though there is evidence they left before the start of the 15th century. They were mainly subsistence farmers, growing crops on nearby mesas. Their primary crop was corn, the major part of their diet.

Spruce Tree House is the third largest and best preserved dwelling in the park. 

Visitors have the chance of climbing down the ladder to enter a kiva.  The word kiva comes from the Hopi language. The kiva is known as a central place within the community. 

Kiva courtyards like this one were busy places.  People used the courtyards every day as places to work and socialize, as well as gatherings. 

Spruce Tree House Facts:

Alcove is 216 feet long and 89 feet deep.

120 rooms, 10 associated ledge rooms, 8 kivas and two towers.

Constructed between 1200-1270 A.D.

The village grew over time and not all the rooms were occupied simultaneously.

Estimated peak population of 60-90 people, about 19 households. 

Look for a large boulder between the kiva and the circular room behind that allows grooves worn into it from the grinding and sharpening of stone tools. 

Mesa Verde National Park was designated as a World Heritage Site in September 1978.  

Mesa Verde Cliff Palace, the largest and most famous cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde National Park, has over 150 individual rooms and more than 23 kivas and had a population of 100 people. Mesa Verde Cliff Palace has been remarkably well preserved from the elements for the past 700 years.

At the time of our visit the site was closed due to restoration so we were unable to take this tour.  If you click on this photo you can see some of the work that is on-going.  

SODA CANYON OVERLOOK TRAIL

This trail leads to views of the Balcony House and some small cliff dwellings across Soda Canyon.

Here is a view of the Balcony House.  A visit to Balcony House will challenge your fear of ladders, heights, and small spaces, and will give you the opportunity to explore the common areas of a mid-sized, 40-room dwelling.  Unfortunately we didn't realize the tours needed to be booked in advance so we didn't get to go on a ranger led tour.  We did get some great photos of other people taking the tour

The Balcony House tour requires visitors to descend a 100 foot staircase into the canyon; climb a 32 foot ladder; crawl through a 12 foot, 18 inches wide tunnel; and climb up an additional 60 feet on ladders and stone steps.

The one-hour Balcony House tour is one of the most intimate yet adventurous tours at Mesa Verde.

You can see here the previous tour group climbing to the top of the cliff on their way to the parking area. 

The pithouse represents the beginnings of a settled way of life.

Although pithouses during the Basketmaker III period varied in size and shape, the typical structure consisted of two chambers, one small and one large. This is the foundation without the roof structure.

According to modern Pueblo Indians, Sun Temple's features classify it as a ceremonial structure.

This massive temple was built on the top of the mesa, above the cliff dwellings, about 1250 AD. It presents something of a mystery, because there is no trace that it ever had a roof and it was probably never finished or occupied. The stones in the fine masonry walls were shaped and given a "dimpled" flat surface by the builders of the structure. Based upon the amount of fallen stone removed during excavation, the walls probably were between 11 and 14 feet high.