Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellers

We took two park-ranger guided hikes in Mesa Verde National Park today.  The first was "Cliff Palace"...if you have been here you know it's a spectacular.  The largest cliff dwelling in the park (and the largest we've seen) is very sophisticated for the time frame (about 1100-1250)--where in excess of a thousand people lived.  The tour took us right into the dwellings area--you could reach out and touch (although not literally) the adobe walls.  These dwellings and kivas were amazing!  Constructed of handmade sandstone bricks and mortar made of ash, dirt and water...although during the drought period, apparently they conserved their fresh water and used waste water for the liquid in the mortar.

The second hike was to "Balcony House," which really gets you into the dwellings themselves.  These are really interesting and exciting tours and part of the reason Mesa Verde NP appears on many lists as a must see.  These tours are probably not for everyone...the Cliff Palace tour is only 1/4 mile total, but involves climbing 5 10 ft ladders (made of branches and small tree trunks as they might have been originally).  The Balcony House hike involves climbing a 32 ft ladder to enter the dwellings and then crawling through a 12 ft long by 18" wide tunnel, followed by a 60 ft climb up the open cliff face using a 2 10-ft ladders and a series of stone "steps."  Easier than it sounds, but again, not for everyone.

Interestingly, there were NO "danger" or excessive lawsuit-avoiding signs, guards or fluorescent striping...you know what I mean--the kind that makes you think...."really???"
What a nice departure! 

The other great part of these tours and traveling to some of the gorgeous National Parks and other attractions in the US, there are so many folks from other countries... interacting with them is really a treat.  There were people from Holland, France, Germany and Canada on this 40-person trip, making for funny, happy communication.

We got back to the moho and then took a short trip into the small town of Mancos.  Some fine examples of early 1900's architecture there, although many of the buildings are falling into disrepair. 

After dinner we were talking about the differences in trailers, mohos, 5th wheels, etc.  There is really everything  you can imagine.  There are also some tent campers in many of the parks.  There was a commercial group that came in late one evening on one of the very windy days in NM.  This is a group that goes from LA to NY and reverse.  These are trips for 18-38 year-olds from Europe, Japan, US, etc., and last 64 days and start in LA, go east across the US and back up through Canada, down from Seattle and back to LA.  They travel in a 10-12-person van and camp most of the way across the US.  Even though we thought it would be great fun 30 years ago, we were VERY glad we weren't a part of this group at our age!

We have encountered so many genuinely nice, thoughtful people on this entire trip--we have been very lucky and feel like we live in a truly beautiful country.