Mesa Verde

Park #11 Visited 09/9/20

From Wikipedia – This area constitutes over 4,000 archaeological sites of the Ancestral Puebloan people, who lived here and elsewhere in the Four Corners region for at least 700 years. Cliff dwellings built in the 12th and 13th centuries include Cliff Palace, which has 150 rooms and 23 kivas, and the Balcony House, with its many passages and tunnels.

Established: 6/29/1906
Annual Visitors: 563,420
Size: 52,485 acres

Elizabeth:

Mesa Verde NP September 9, 2020

As we were leaving the boarder of NM, entering CO, the topography was like night and day. We left sprawling plains at 6000 ft and began to see snow-capped mts over 9000 ft in distance. The land surrounding us on our 163-mile drive went from brown, low brush plains to lush green forested rolling hills. Much more our preference. We are originally from Vermont. The woods, mountains and greenery were calling our names!

As you approach Mesa Verde National Park, outside Cortez, the gift shop is before the park entrance. We of course stopped for our commemorative pin, post card and ink stamp. Due to COVID all the Parks are limiting the numbers of people who can enter the gift shops and have designated entrances and exits. The Visitor Centers have been closed but the Park Rangers are very visible, present and helpful.

**Elizabeth and Rangeley braving the 40 degree temps and 20 mph winds.**

A 1/2 mile up the hill from the only Visitor’s Center in the park is the official entrance where we show your annual pass. Next year, at 62, we can buy a life time pass. Not sure if I am excited or a bit dismayed that are old enough to get one!

**Thousands of acres in Mesa Verde NP were effected by three huge fires from the late 1990’s through early 2000’s.**

The mountains you can drive up to, within the park, top out at 8,600 ft. It was 35 and snowing/raining when we were there. Several miles past there is a section of the park where dogs are allowed on leash (in addition to any parking lot), and only on paved paths. Dogs are not allowed on the dirt paths or on any “trail”. Mesa Verde is not a very dog friendly park and a ranger we spoke to was apologetic. But, rules are rules, Rangeley agreed to be a BARK Ranger so we need to abide : )

We stopped to view the many ancient (1150 -1300) cliff dwellings which can be seen some 20-miles south from the Visitor’s Center. (see pictures below). We experienced our first ever view of the dwellings that were used 550-750AD called Pit Houses. They were the homes of the ancient Pueblo People before the Cliff Dwellers. Pit Houses are large dugouts in the ground, roofed with thatching. According to archeologists, they were equipped with fire pits, food prep and storage areas and air vents which were wholes in the bottom of the pits leading to a tunnel up to the ground level outside the roof area. (see photo below).

Spruce Tree House, Pueblo Period: 1150-1300.

Archaeologists call these people Anasazi, a Navajo word sometime translated to mean: ” the ancient foreigners”. These Mesa Verde, CO. cliff dwellings made of sandstone were discovered around 1880. (The paved, wet, blacktop trail looks like water)

Cliff Palace
Some of the largest villages in Mesa Verde had up to 130 rooms and housed up to 90 people year round.

This week has been uncommonly cold, setting temperature and snow records in northern NM and southern CO. It is making it hard with a dog and travel. It’s been raining, 40-degree last night here in Durango with the EconoLodge heat only coming on after the first of October… burr!! Gary pulled his down sleeping bag out of the car for me. I used it in addition to the blankets on the bed! We’ve had 50+ days of over 110 this summer in Phoenix so a 70 degree drop in temperature in two days was significant!Rangeley😢
Our little guy has been such a great trooper …until last night. Once we settled into the hotel in Durango, CO. we took Rangeley (4 ½ mos.) for a walk on a wonderful riverside bike/walk path to a park. All of a sudden, he started losing his balance, seemed dizzy, scratched his ears and was lethargic. We looked up the symptoms and feel he had what some call Mountain Sickness, a mild form of Altitude Sickness. We had him rest, drink lots of water and he had a long deep overnight sleep (8+ hours uninterrupted) and he seems OK today. We changed our plans to stay in Durango (6,500ft) for another night for him to rest, eat several watery meals throughout the day and only walk outside to “go”, as recommended by online vets and dog blogs. (We also did not want to go over Wolf Creek Pass. At over 10,000′ they have had close to a foot of snow. We wanted to give the crews time to clear the road before we headed up and over.) Gary and I have done high elevation travel several times over the years so we are both fine.

Tomorrow we head to Great Sand Dunes National Park near Alamosa, CO.