Day 108: Mesa Verde National Park, CO

Our second day at Mesa Verde was both exciting and relaxing. We started early with a look as a well preserved pit house. These were the houses the Ancient Puebloans lived in on the Mesa top before they constructed and moved into the cliff dwellings. 

We then participated in a ten person ranger-guided tour of the Square Tower House. In this highly sought after tour we got to see the tallest building in Mesa Verde. We were treated to Ranger Hayden again for this tour and learned a bunch (again!). The boys loved the ladders and the steps carved right into the sandstone cliff face. We saw pottery sherds (the correct term for broken pottery pieces) and some faded petroglyphs.

We spent midday exploring the Mesa (which means flat table top) though technically Mesa Verde is a Cuesta since it is not flat but at a 7 degree tilt. We checked out the Sun Temple, took in the views at some overlooks, stopped in at the museum, and visited with the Navajo vendors at Soda Point. We tried Navajo fry bread - it was the vendor’s recipe passed down through seven generations and it was incredible - so light and fluffy. Yum!

In the afternoon we took our last Ranger-guided tour, this time of Balcony House. This is the best preserved cliff dwelling in the park and was the most adventurous tour. We ascended ladders and walked up stone footholds carved into the sheer cliff face. It was reminiscent of Angel’s Landing in Zion except that there were chains on both slides the entire trail was as well as a chain guard fence to prevent falls. It was scary but really safe. The first rainstorm to reach Mesa Verde in 3 weeks started while we were down in Balcony House. This resulted in climbing up the ladders and cliff during crazy wind and spitting rain. The boys loved it. This ranked as their favourite tour of the park. It was great luck that we saved the best for last and finished on a high (though blustery) note.

We got dinner, showers and laundry sorted out by early evening in time to attend the evening ranger program. Tonight we were treated to storytelling by Hopi Ranger Sachel. It was engaging and entertaining. A winner as well and a privilege to have a traditional Hopi story shared with us.

We move on tomorrow but we are sad to go. We so enjoyed our time here among the spirits of the Ancient Puebloans who called this place home.