MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK, COLORADO

A few miles further is Mesa Verde National Park. I can’t believe that we will be driving to the top of mesa on that mountain to Mesa Verde National Park. This park is unique in that it is the only national park set aside “to preserve the works of man”. The park is huge, consisting of 52,073 acres with 8100 acres of that designated wilderness. Fortunately, Jan and Sally are doing the driving for our touring of the park, saving Zoe’s sore ribs and my weak legs.

The park was created in 1906 to preserve the archeological heritage of the Ancestral Puebloans (originally called Anasazi, Navaho for “the ancient foreigners”). The park has over 4,500 archeological sites. Of those, only 600 are cliff dwellings. The buildings here are built of sandstone shaped into rectangular blocks about the size of a loaf of bread. These buildings were occupied as living quarters. From 550 to 750 people lived in pithouses, a sunken living area a few feet in the ground with four timbers to support the roof.

The Ancestral Puebloans settled in this area by AD550 and occupied the Colorado Plateau region until AD1300. Some of the sites involved extensive hiking, climbing ladders and steep inclines which we could not do. Fortunately, there are many other sites that we could easily walk to or view from overlooks. On the six-mile Mesa Loop Road we were able to view twelve archeological sites including surface dwellings and cliff dwelling overlooks. Two of the most fascinating were the Square Tower House and Cliff Palace.

Square Tower House is a beautiful cliff dwelling built in an alcove in the upper walls of Navaho Canyon. It is named for the prominent four-story-high structure against the curving back wall. This is not like the other round towers of Mesa Verde but was planned with windows, doorways, and flooring plus plastered inner walls. Access to the site is by hand-and-toe holds pecked into the cliff walls.

Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling. To visit it you have to take a short hike and climb five ladders at a 100-foot overall vertical ascent. We viewed it from an overlook. Unfortunately, there are written records so we can only surmise the Ancient Puebloans’ history from excavations and scientific analysis . Their structures reflect their skills and traditions however.

Each evening we had the enjoyment of Jan and Sally joining us for dinner and delightful conversations.