Adventures of a Book Dragon: Mesa Verde

I am finding it difficult tonight to sum up how amazing Mesa Verde truly is, I know we should have given this incredible park way more time than a single day, but it just means that we will have an adventure to continue the next time we come to Durango area.

Instead, I will let the pictures guide you on this amazing adventure.

Mesa Verde is approximately 40 minutes from downtown Durango and about an 1 hour 40 minutes from where we are staying in Pagosa Springs. It was well worth this drive.

We all thought the cliff dwelling villages were below this rock, this is known as Knife Rock and much further behind this rock was the cliff dwelling villages.

We stopped off first at the entrance for a quick snap shot.

Then went to the visitor center (which is currently closed) but the book shop was open (YAY!)

This super cool statute is outside the visitor center and depicts an ancestral pueblo Native American climbing to one of the sites.

We then started to drive.

First up was the Mancos Valley Overlook

Then we proceeded to the Montezuma Valley Overlook

Then it was the Park Point Overlook

Park Point Lookout is the highest point in Mesa Verde, here the air definitely feels thinner at 8572 feet above sea level

(We also paused here for lunch - to put into perspective how HUGE this place is, we arrived at around 10 am and we were barely a 1/3 of the way up the main road by 12:15 pm)

The Geologic Overlook offered a cool geology lesson.

We then headed for the Chapin Mesa Area, where the famous Spruce House and Cliff Palace are located.

Ranger Displaying tools at the Spruce House

Spruce House

Spruce House area

*Awesome hikes in this area, but with so much to see we opted to save for next time

Pit House

Yes it is just a hole in the ground, there would have been a wooden structure above it.

What the pit house actually looked like

Navajo Canyon View

Navajo Canyon

Under the arch in Navajo Canyon was a village site

Square Tower House

Cliff Palace Overlook and Pueblo Villages

Cliff Palace overlook and Pueblo Villages

Cliff Palace

Ancestral Pueblo Villages

Sun Temple

Sun Temple view

Cliff Palace

Cliff Palace side view

By the time we completed the loop it was 3:30 pm. We headed back to Far View Cafe for snack and the gift shop before starting to make our way home.

Throughout our adventure today we also saw a lot of thunderstorms all around us and even had light sprinkling.

As we drove out of the park, we could see the rain and in the distance the start of a wild fire that seems to have been sparked by a lightning strike.

Mesa Verde, I will be back as we didn't even get to see the Wetherill Mesa nor any of the museums.

On the audio tour we listened to, it made a very valid point about American history and that frequently the history books start about the North American continent with Christopher Columbus or the founding of the US Nation and neglects the entire Native American Story.

There is about a 12,000 year history gap there folks.

Mesa Verde is super cool, and when they are able to reopen it, I can't wait to go!!

For dinner we drove back to Durango and enjoyed a yummy meal at Steamworks