A Walk Amongst the Ancients - Mesa Verde
Hello Everyone San Here,
For the past month my darling wife and I have been traveling home to the US. We started on August 11 and finally found a place to settle down on September 11. I wanted to share one of the wonderful places we visited along the way.
Mesa Verde National Park is a wonderful place to go. It is a huge National Park nestled in the SW Colorado Mesa's and is quite an adventure for all. There is no way to see the whole park in one day as it is over 52 K acres in size, so if you can stay for a few days and really go around and see all of the dwellings it is worth it.
The first place we visited was The Cliff Palace. This area is over 800 years old and has survived times unknown to history. It's discovery was by two ranchers looking for their lost cattle back in the 1890's. What thing to come across when looking for your herd.
You can see you actually get to go down to the dwelling to see and feel what it was like to live there. It is a guided tour costing $4 and your guide gives you full explanations of everything you see. I cannot describe the way I was feeling of how these people lived, I could only look in amazed reverence for those who once lived there.
The Spruce Tree House is not part of the guided tour and you are free to go there on your own. There are park rangers stationed around the dwelling to answer questions and to advise you of what you can and cannot do.
The Square Tower is the tallest of all of the structures reaching up four stories along one of the cliff edges. There is only a view point to this dwelling as it is difficult to get to and many have been injured in the attempt to reach it. Makes you wonder how they lived there without perishing.
These are but a few of the pictures my wife and I took while there. We spent one whole day here and only saw but a small fraction of the park and enjoyed its wonder. We now live only 45 minutes from the park and will be returning often to explore it more. One more check mark for my bucket list.
This woman was kind enough to allow me to take her picture on the ladders in the narrow passage way coming up out of Cliff Palace. She was a nervous wreck, unsure of herself and I encouraged her along the way. Her husband is right behind her and he too was nervous. This place is not for the light hearted.
I will be posting many more entries about Mesa Verde on my Fat Guy Hikes site if any of you are interested in learning more. I know I will be visiting here many more times.
Cliff Palace From Viewpoint Across the Canyon
I am always at your service,
San
Recent Comments
125
Thanks Ben,
I feel lucky, ever since we got back from the Philippines things have just occurred making it seem this was the right place to land.
San
Very enjoyable,San. I can imagine those cattle ranchers first impressions when they came across these dwellings.Up till then they
might have felt like the first to be there.
It's fun to imagine people living their lives in such a community.
Marty
I would have loved to see the look on their faces when they saw it.
I wonder what went thru their minds.
San
A wonderful post. My husband and I visited there several years ago and we loved it! I have pictures, too, and one of him climbing down into one of the rooms. Good memories for me.
We climbed down into one of the Kiva's, we have pics. It was kinda eerie for us, how did it make you guys feel about it?
It was not a bad eerie just a WOW eerie.
San
A "wow" eerie, for sure. I didn't go down, but Jack did. It was an awesome adventure and I'd go back in a heartbeat. It's mind-boggling how they created those cities. Looking forward to your new posts.
Yeah, I knew I was not alone in my feelings. I could feel it and see it on the faces of the others. I met a lot of foreigners there, it is a huge attraction.
San
Looks wonderful so love the sense of history and when you look at structures from way back I am in awe of how they created it without the modern machinery we have today, thanks for sharing great pictures
Hello Katie,
You can feel the history of the place. It was surreal to walk amongst the ruins knowing those who built them walked in the same place as you. We were actually able to go down into one of the rooms to get a feel of what it was like to be there.
I will be writing a separate blog about that experience, it was eerie.
San
Its great, I was in one of the Islands recently and went to a place where by some of the ruins were 1300 years old its just mind blowing will be on the look out for that eerie post
Top of the morning to you, San, and welcome home!!
Thanks for sharing these moving pictures and stories with us
Thank you for leaving me such a great comment and for the welcome home. It is good to be back where I do not have to think of the words to say before I say them, I mean in a foreign language LOL.
I will be sharing more from this area soon.
San
What an incredibly beautiful place. Looking forward to lots more pictures and am very glad you are back here in the U.S. Happy homecoming.
Thanks Quincy,
I had forgotten just how large the United States really is. It took us several days to get here and we did not even travel but 1/3 of the country LOL.
There will be more pics and blogs from this area. We will be exploring it as much as we can.
San
Hi San. I've seen pictures of this place before, but it never ceases to amaze me. I look forward to more posts.
Mike.
Thanks Mike,
I will be posting them on my site if you want to take a look. I will be putting more about my adventures here as well. Just more detailed on the site.
San
See more comments
Hi San, thank you for sharing your wonderful pictures. .
You are welcome,
Thank you for leaving me a comment I really appreciate it.
San
You're welcome San.