Day 106: Bluff, UT to Mesa Verde National Park, CO

Today was a slow day - no hikes, no tours, minimal driving.

Only a few steps from our campsite, Seamus and I took a look at the Sand Island petroglyphs this morning before breakfast. The most famous of these was the figure of Kokopelli, the fertility deity who is depicted as a humpbacked flute player. We also saw lots of bighorn sheep, a favourite of ours. Again, there were robot-like figures that were most likely depiction of shamans in ceremonial dress. Petroglyphs are neat. It is a shame that more isn’t known about how to interpret them.

Our drive to Mesa Verde National Park was short and relaxing. We across the state line from Utah into Colorado stopped in Cortez. We visited a fabulous antique shop where Seamus found a lasso and I purchased a copy of Zane Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage, the Western novel that started it all.

This wall of salt and pepper shakers reminded me of GG.

This glass chicken reminded me of Auntie Iris and her turkey shaped cranberry sauce bowl.

We filled up our gas and propane tanks, restocked our food supplies with a grocery run, stocked up on firewood and checked it at the Visitors Centre. This park had the nicest, newest Visitors Centre of all the places we have been so far. They had life sized, realistic looking models of the Pueblo people doing various traditional activities. It was very well done. The way to see this park is through Ranger guided tours that all needed to be booked in advance. We have both morning and afternoon tours booked for tomorrow and Saturday, so we will be busy during our time here.

Our campsite at Morefield Campground is full service (electricity, water and sewer!), has zero shade but a plethora of mule deer. We have seen several up close including a fawn leaping around. Dinner was tostada tacos. Yum! Then it was showers and off to the evening Ranger program which taught us just how much more there is to see within the National Parks system. We have just scratched the surface!