Mesa Verde National Park, CO
Previous : Day 4 (part 1) - Monument Valley, Navajo Tribal Park
Day 4 (part 2) of road trip.
We drove for about two and half hours from Monument Valley to reach Mesa Verde National Park. As I was researching about this park, I knew that we will not be able to see all Cliff dwellings in winter. But this potentially could be my only chance to see this place. So there was never a thought of skipping it. Of all the national parks in US, Mesa Verde is only one which is preserving man-made sites (constructed around 1100-1200 AD).
As we reached the entrance, I got to know that Spruce Tree house cliff dwelling can be visited on your own (somehow nps.gov website said that there are ranger guided tours). The cliff dwelling section of the park is at the rear end and we had to drive good 20-30 mins before we reached the museum near Spruce Tree. We parked the car and immediately went on the trail to visit Spruce tree house.
Here is the view of this Cliff dwelling from Top of the trail:
The trail is pretty easy one and well paved. There were about 10-15 people other folks once we reached the dwelling.
The site was very well preserved but there was some work going on (as can be seen from the wires). We went inside a Kiva which used for gathering by Anasazi folks.
Here is another Kiva which was on the 1st floor.
After spending good 30-45mins at this place, we returned back to museum. It felt good to be inside as it had gotten quite cold outside :).
From there, we went on Mesa Top Loop drive. We stopped at almost every point along the way and took some good pictures. Here is one showing a cliff dwelling with multiple floors.
It was past 5Pm and decided to hotel which we had booked at Cortez CO (about 10 miles from Park entrance). On the way back, took this picture from Montezuma Valley Overlook.
On the way to hotel, picked up a hot pizza and it tasted so good in that cold weather :).
Perfect ending to a Perfect day!
Next : Day 5 (part 1) - Canyon De Chelly, AZ
Day 4 (part 2) of road trip.
We drove for about two and half hours from Monument Valley to reach Mesa Verde National Park. As I was researching about this park, I knew that we will not be able to see all Cliff dwellings in winter. But this potentially could be my only chance to see this place. So there was never a thought of skipping it. Of all the national parks in US, Mesa Verde is only one which is preserving man-made sites (constructed around 1100-1200 AD).
As we reached the entrance, I got to know that Spruce Tree house cliff dwelling can be visited on your own (somehow nps.gov website said that there are ranger guided tours). The cliff dwelling section of the park is at the rear end and we had to drive good 20-30 mins before we reached the museum near Spruce Tree. We parked the car and immediately went on the trail to visit Spruce tree house.
Here is the view of this Cliff dwelling from Top of the trail:
The trail is pretty easy one and well paved. There were about 10-15 people other folks once we reached the dwelling.
The site was very well preserved but there was some work going on (as can be seen from the wires). We went inside a Kiva which used for gathering by Anasazi folks.
Here is another Kiva which was on the 1st floor.
After spending good 30-45mins at this place, we returned back to museum. It felt good to be inside as it had gotten quite cold outside :).
From there, we went on Mesa Top Loop drive. We stopped at almost every point along the way and took some good pictures. Here is one showing a cliff dwelling with multiple floors.
It was past 5Pm and decided to hotel which we had booked at Cortez CO (about 10 miles from Park entrance). On the way back, took this picture from Montezuma Valley Overlook.
On the way to hotel, picked up a hot pizza and it tasted so good in that cold weather :).
Perfect ending to a Perfect day!
Next : Day 5 (part 1) - Canyon De Chelly, AZ
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