Today was a picture perfect day for exploring Mesa Verde National Park, viewing the cliff dwellings and enjoying the spectacular scenery. Unfortunately, you can only view the cliff dwellings from a distance, since it is not legal to tour them without a park guide and the season for guided tours doesn’t start until 12 May. So we contented ourselves by driving to the Cliff Palace and Spruce Tree House cliff dwellings’ view points – a little over 20 miles from the park entrance. We also wanted to drive down to Wetherill Mesa and view the Long House, but the road was closed for maintenance and won’t open until mid May.
On the way to the Cliff Palace overlook, we stopped to enjoy some spectacular views at Montezuma Valley, Park Point, and Fire Overlooks. Park Point has the highest elevation in the park, 8,572 ft and is critically important in monitoring for forest fires. From the lookout, you can see over 60 miles (clear into Utah) and the views are spectacular. During the fire season the lookout is manned 24/7 and there is a lot of activity there.
The views from the Cliff Palace overlook are spectacular. Even from a distance, the cliff dwellings are truly impressive and it is not hard to understand why the Pueblo peoples remained there as long as they did. People often ask, where did they go and why did they leave? Some speculate that droughts or other natural phenomena caused them to leave, others say, “it was just time to leave as migration is a normal part of life” and others say, “they are still here – they have never left” (the latter being true as many descendants still live in the area.
After viewing the Cliff Palace, we went to Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum. It is part of the Mesa Verde Administrative District National Historic Landmark. The museum exhibits are “being extensively redone” in order to tell a more “comprehensive story about Mesa Verde National Park from multiple perspectives.” There was a very interesting film “Footsteps of Our Ancestors”. The film provided some interesting information about the ancient settlers of Mesa Verde and their descendants. The ancient settlers occupied the Mesa Verde area over 1500 years ago. It is believed that they migrated further south around 1200 possibly because of extended drought, limited resources, and/or social upheaval. It is claimed that the original cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde was the first stop on their migration journey, but in all likelihood, there had been many stops before that. The film focused on the fact that the original cliff dwellers’ history, cultural practices, and sacred rites and rituals have been orally passed from generation to generation to their descendants – members of the Indian tribes in the southwest. The Indigenous peoples value the sacredness of the land and believe that movement is part of life and that it is important to allow land to rest and renew. The descendants of these ancient cliff dwellers look upon the site as sacred and hope that visitors will treat the area with respect.
While viewing the exhibits, I noticed a double mug. The bottom connection is hollow so that a liquid will stand at the same level on each side. Peggy and I need one of these mugs for our wine. We have a standing joke where we each claim the fuller glass.
We finished up our day in the park with a stop at the viewing spot for Spruce Tree House situated across the canyon. It is one of 600 dwellings in the park. It is the third largest cliff dwelling, and was part of an extended community. These cliff dwelling structures are so impressive.
When we left the park, we headed back to Cortez to do some shopping and have an early dinner. Then we returned to our room to plan the itinerary for the next few days and update the blog. Tomorrow morning, we will head out for Zion National Park, but it will take two or possibly three days as we plan to pass by Canyon Lands, National Park, Bears’ Ears National Monument and Bryce Canyon National Park.