More Mesa Verde

The next day we headed back up to Mesa Verde - there is tons to see and do up there and we were booked in to spend the night at the lodge at the top of the mountain.  The scheduled highlights for the day were a tour of the 'Cliff Palace' and a second tour of the 'Balcony House', two more sets of cliff dwellings that actually require some effort to visit.

Just some more ruins we visited on the way to Cliff Palace.  These ones definitely didn't look very ruined.

Cliff Palace is the biggest of the cliff dwellings.  The tour is advertised as 'strenuous', because it requires climbing a bunch of ladders to get down to the dwellings (don't worry, there is a paved path at the bottom), and then a bit of a hike up a stone staircase (surprise!) to get back up.  My Dad and I thought the ladder climbing was actually pretty fun, and the views from below were definitely worth it.

The ranger asked us to speculate why the Mesa Verdans would have moved into the cliff dwellings.  It took them about 50 years to build these homes, and they only lived in them for a few decades before taking off.  Prior to that, they lived in villages along the top of the mesa.  No one knows for sure, but possible reasons include safety from attackers and shelter from the weather, which can get pretty harsh in the winters.  Based on what the archaeologists found, when they left the dwellings were left in such a state it looked as if they had just gone out for tea.  But that makes sense - since they were likely headed south and travelling long distances, they wouldn't have carried all their stoneware with them.

The view from the dwellings.  I definitely wouldn't be scaling those canyon walls for a cup of tea.  All the cliff dwellings were accessed by incredibly steep passages, usually involved scaling a wall with a bunch of hand and foot holds.

The ranger was flattered that my Dad wanted to take a photo of him.  Dad was actually taking a photo of the lizard to the ranger's left.  

Next up was Balcony Palace.  Though we were afraid this tour would be a repeat of the one we had just done, it certainly was not.  Because the tour actually takes you through the cliff dwellings you get a lot more detailed information about how the people lived.  And this tour arguably is as strenuous as labelled.  It involves multiple ladders, including one 30 feet high, and a 12 foot tunnel that you have to crawl through on your hands and knees.  In a word: awesome.  A few shots from the tour...

The one and only shot we had taken of us during the whole trip!

Dad and the ranger, in shadows, contemplate the 30 foot ladder down.  

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the mesa top - there are so many archaeological sites it's mind boggling.

A forest fire a few years ago wiped out something like 80% of the forest, leaving a pretty barren landscape in parts.  One of the rangers told us that it actually made it more like when the Mesa Verdans lived there, as they would have cut down all the trees.

The creatively named 'Square Tower House'.  Once you start looking, you see cliff dwellings everywhere in the canyon.

This odd building was on the mesa top and was built in the shape of a capital 'D'.  It has no windows and no doors, and was abandoned partway through construction.  They really have no idea what it was intended for.

That night we had decided to splurge and stay at the Mesa Verde Lodge in the park, which sits at over 8,000 feet.  Aside from a few noisy neighbours, it was dead silent up there, and we wiled away a peaceful evening on the balcony with a great view and (what else!) craft beer.

The view from our balcony.

The lodge isn't much to look at, but it's quite the experience to stay there.