We arrived on Wednesday afternoon to a mostly empty campground, so we had our pick of the spots. Our site was surrounded by shrubbery which opened up to a wide view of the night sky. We listened to coyotes howl in the distance and sat drinking wine together under the bright moon. We both wondered why we can't live like this every day.
Because we only had one full day at Mesa Verde, we were out early the next morning so we could make our way into the heart of the park. We spent our day exploring the Chapin Mesa, and could have spent another whole day exploring Weatherill Mesa. We arrived back at camp at 6 pm not even having seen everything we planned. We know for next time that three or even four nights would have been better so we could have even gotten in some hiking or biking.
Mesa Verde is part of the Native Culture Parks which are mainly located in the four corner states of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. This entire list includes 24 parks, of which we've seen roughly half. You know what that means... more goals to accomplish! These parks are dedicated to the history and culture of the Native American peoples, which is fascinating and heartbreaking all at once. In Mesa Verde we saw some of the biggest and best preserved Ancient Puebloan cliff dwellings, dating back to over 800 years ago. It was simply awesome.
Even though the summer season is over at the Park, we were still surprised at the heat and the crowds. Because you can hit so many parks in so little time due to their proximity, many tour buses make their way through Mesa Verde for the day before or after hitting the Utah "Mighty Five" - Arches, Bryce, Canyonlands, Capital Reef, and Zion - and of course heading into Arizona to see the Grand Canyon. Pulling out at a view point only to be pushed out by large groups in the dozens is frustrating and disheartening when you are all competing for the same view in the same spot. All cultures do not practice "taking turns," which can add even more layers of disappointment to your experience as you may be physically bumped aside. For this reason, we decided to speed parts of our day up so as to get ahead of the buses and do as much as we could in the quiet and the tranquility that we seek.
The highlight of the day by far was a Ranger-led tour of Balcony House. Because the busy season is technically over, it was the only tour available. This tour is also listed as the most "strenuous" because it requires climbing multiple ladders, including one that was 32 feet tall, and crawling on hands and knees through a small tunnel. It was so cool! Aside from that, we did a self-guided tour of Spruce Tree House, and the Mesa Top Loop Drive.
On the way home we acquainted ourselves with the Navajo landscape by catching some sights at Canyon de Chelly, and Navajo history at Hubbell Trading Post. It was a great trip.
