Today we explore Mesa Verde National Park. This is a park I have had on my mind for a long time- ever since I saw pictures of a lantern festival they used to hold. History combined with nature? Yes please!

We started our day at the Visitor Center, where we spoke with a ranger about the limitations at Mesa Verde. Not only are all of their tours closed right now (I had booked a sunset tour of Cliff Palace MONTHS ago! 😦 ), but they also had most of their hiking trails closed. The whole area is in an extreme fire danger alert at the moment, and with the limited staffing due to COVID-19, they quite literally would not be able to evacuate people if a fire occurred. Therefore, much of what we would be able to do would be drive and see.

At the visitor center, there was a volunteer who was selling cacti out of his work truck. I love learning about plants, so I had to speak with him! (and of course, buy a couple cacti to come home with us!) He was the sweetest man and super knowledge. He had actually worked with the park to harvest cactus seeds and propagate the cacti at home! He even convinced the park to turn a dirt patch along the drive to Mesa Loop into a natural looking cacti/desert plant garden! He gave me a lot of information about the cacti I purchased, how to keep them alive in Ohio, and just general cool information about the plants in the park! It’s cool knowing we will have a piece of our vacation at home with us in Ohio!

 

After the visitor center, we headed to the end of the road. There is a trail called Mesa Top where you drive a 6 mile loop and make stops at the different archaeological sites along the way. We saw the evolution of how homes were built and engineered by the natives. Going from pithouses to pueblos. It was really cool and honestly insane to see how smart the natives were in using what the land provided them to create their homes!

 

After the Mesa Top, we headed down the spur road to Cliff Palace. This was another place where you drive to, park, and see. Cliff Palace is seriously an engineering marvel of it’s time. Consisting of about 150 rooms, it was built right into the side of the cliff. How did they access their homes? They created foot holds along the cliffside that they climbed to get in and out of the cliff. So wild!

 

After viewing Cliff Palace, we drove to the Soda Canyon trailhead, just up the road. This was one of the only hikes we could do- at about 1.5 miles long. This trail takes you through the “forest” and to the cliff edge where you can view Balcony House and other cliff dwellings.

 

The last thing we would be able to do in the park was to hike around the Farview Sites. This was another hike through the forest of Mesa Verde that takes you to see old villages and even a reservoir that was constructed! My only complaint was seeing a family with zero regard for preserving the pueblos and allowing their kids to climb all over the walls, even though they were roped off and had signs EVERYWHERE telling you not to climb on them. So frustrating 😦

 

With all of the closures in Mesa Verde, this would be our only day spent exploring the park. On the suggestion of my dad, we would be going to Durango tomorrow to ride an old steam train through the canyons!