Mesa Verde National Park

Our primary reason for stopping in Cortez, Colorado was to visit Mesa Verde. However, a major wind and dust storm blew through Cortez on Saturday, so we drove over to Durango instead to deal with our computer problem.

Dolores:

On the return trip to Cortez, we took a scenic route to the small town of Dolores on the banks of the Rio de Nuestra Senora de las Dolores, or “The River of Our Lady of Sorrows,” obviously named by a couple of Spanish priests. The town dates back to 1900. It was once a major railroad stop between Telluride and Durango. Today, it’s old depot is a museum and the home of the historic “Galloping Goose,” a very unusual piece of railroad equipment. Half bus and half rail baggage car, the goose provided mail and passenger service prior to its retirement.

A mile or so from Dolores is Lake McPhee, the second largest lake in Colorado. It’s also an artificial lake in an area that’s very rich in archaeological history. Prior to building the dam, the area was combed quickly and carefully for ancient ruins and artifacts. Many of the findings are now displayed in the Anasazi Heritage Center, where more than 3.5 million artifacts have been processed and stored. It’s only about 10 miles off the beaten path, but a beautiful facility.

Mesa Verde National Park:
The wind and dust eased a little on Sunday, so we got an early start for the white-knuckle drive to the 7,700 ft. top of Mesa Verde. The road was steep, bumpy, narrow in places, with hairpin curves and steep drop-offs. It was not Bonnie’s kind of feel-good highway but her nerves survived the trip.


The Far View Visitor Center is in an area once occupied by nearly 50 villages. It was an active agricultural community and the remains of many structures can still be seen.  While most of the early residents lived and farmed the top of the mesa, Mesa Verde is most famous for its cliff dwellings and that’s what we wanted to see. The steep cliffs and protective sandstone alcoves of the canyons are perfectly tailored for habitats.

The people who inhabited these dwellings are now collectively referred to as Ancestral Puebloans. They moved down into the canyons from the mesa top for unknown reasons. One theory is that they were threatened by outsiders and the canyons offered security and protection. They occupied the cliff dwellings until the thirteenth century when they abandoned their canyons and moved elsewhere, probably because of a prolonged drought.

Cliff Palace is considered the crown jewel of Mesa Verde. It’s the largest cliff dwelling in North America and an architectural masterpiece.

Visitors must now have tickets for guided tours, so we got our tickets early. The hike down to Cliff Palace involved steep stairways, narrow pathways along cliff ledges and climbs on wooden ladders.

We weren’t sure we were up for that level of physical activity and at an altitude where there was less oxygen. But, we huffed, puffed and panted our way through the tour with everyone else and it was well worth the effort. Paula, our guide, was excellent and the ruins were very impressive and well preserved.

Our second tour was of Balcony House.  Also a 13th century dwelling, it’s considered one of the best preserved sites and the most strenuous of the guided tours. We knew that when we bought our tickets, but figured it was our once in a lifetime chance to see this historic structure, so we’d give it our best shot.

Getting into Balcony House involved descending about 100 feet of steep stairway, a walk along a narrow ledge, then a climb up a 32 foot wooden ladder into the structure.

Balcony House is a medium-sized masonry structure, two stories high and under a broad rock overhang. Local sandstone was shaped into building blocks and stuck together with mortar to create its 38 rooms and two kivas (circular ceremonial rooms). Some interior walls were also plastered and painted with pictographs that are still visible.

Balcony House was designed somewhat like a fortress and intended to be difficult to enter. It was difficult to exit as well. To get out, we had to crawl through an 18 inch wide twelve foot long rock tunnel. A couple larger guys in our group had a little trouble getting through. Ron fit the tunnel perfectly, as shown below.

Bonnie made it through easily.

After the tunnel, we had to climb three ten-foot wooden ladders, then a series of steps that were chiseled into the face of the cliff. It was nearly vertical but there was no turning back and no room for fear at that point. We just kept climbing and hanging onto the chain railing until we got to the top.  No problem!

It was quite an experience for us couch potatoes and we were proud of ourselves for making it through.

We ended our visit to Mesa Verde with a stop at Spruce Tree House and the park museum.  It's an exceptionally interesting place to visit and we wore ourselves out enjoying it.  After we got back to Cortez, we treated ourselves to a margarita and a good Mexican dinner, then watched Brooks & Dunn's Last Rodeo TV special.  It was a terrific day!