Nine miles east of our little cottage in Cortez lies Mesa Verde National Park. I knew nothing about Mesa Verde until we started planning this trip. The name kept coming up in conversation when we mentioned heading west, surely we were going to see the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde. I am glad we listened and left I-40!
In the high desert it is very cold overnight, but it warms up quickly on cloudless days, like today. We entered the park mid morning, when the temperature was almost up to 50° from the predawn 28°. The Welcome Center is at elevation 6950, and it is a steep and stunning climb up the face of Mesa Verde to 8300 feet. My mind stopped thinking in full sentences, and could only manage two word snippets. Nail biting. White knuckling. Breath taking!
The back story. In about the year 500 AD, the humans living in the region we now generally refer to as Four Corners (Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico) began to live on Mesa Verde, a huge geological feature of cliffs, canyons, and mesas. For over 700 years, until about 1300, these Anasazi (Navajo for "the ancient foreigners") or more commonly the Ancestral Pueblo built elaborate stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls. This ancient culture is preserved at Mesa Verde National Park.
The park is massive in size, and there are 4500 archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. Some can be seen from the Park Road, and there are plenty of pull-offs. Some can only be seen from hiking trails. We drove for almost an hour to reach the Museum and nearby trailhead to access the trail we had picked for our "site" seeing hike.
Immediately behind the Museum (still closed due to Covid) it was a short walk to a viewing spot to see the most accessible cliff dwelling in the park.
From here, we chose the Spruce Canyon Trail, and dropped into the canyon to start exploring on foot. It was great to be out of the car after 2000 miles of driving! It was a 558 foot drop down into the canyon, then a beautiful walk along the canyon floor, a leisurely lunch
and a few hours later a steep ascent out of the canyon.
I took tons of photos, but I don't really feel as though I captured the park, or the canyons, or even the cliff dwellings. This is a place that must be seen to be truly experienced.
Car Talk
70 Miles
Driving time: 2 hours, 38 minutes
Average mileage 29 mpg
Average speed 26 mph
[New feature] Total trip mileage 2011.7 miles
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