An Overnight Stay in Mesa Verde National Park

I made it to Mesa Verde National Park around noon on the second day of a planned three day trip through Colorado so I was still fresh and anxious to explore new sites. At the entrance booth I purchased an Annual National Park Pass that would allow me free admission to most National Parks and Monuments in the country.

When I got to the park the sky was dark and a slight drizzle of rain was falling. I found a nice campsite with good privacy barriers in the form of dense forests of scrub oak about eight to ten feet tall. By the time I finished lunch, the sun was shining and the rain had subsided.

I read through the park literature and decided to take a self-guided tour of as many Native American Ruins as I could get to before dark. Mesa Verde is home to some of the best preserved and largest cliff dwellings and pit-house pueblos around. The bigger cliff dwellings are off limits to individuals and require a fee for a guided tour with a ranger. I decided against that type of tour as I really like to explore on my own.

Figure 1 – Mesa Top Loop Map

My first stop was the Spruce Tree House which is a nice cliff dwelling built in a small canyon of spruce trees. I was able to get very close to the cliff dwelling and was fascinated by how well preserved the centuries-old stone structure looked.

I spent several minutes at the dwelling trying to get a feel for what it might have been like for the original inhabitants while at the same time trying to block out the inane conversations from the lines of people around the house.

After a while, I moved on to a three mile hike to an obscure petroglyph on the side of a canyon wall. It was a very enjoyable hike through a pinyon forest. A German family and an American Family had flopped down on the trail in front of the petroglyph and were loudly discussing their personal lives when I happened by.

One person in the group remarked that they thought this was the second best petroglyph they had seen. Although when questioned, they could not name the first best or any other petroglyph they had ever seen. The situation was about as annoying as having someone shout into their cell phone in the library.

I left the party after a few minutes and continued on the loop trail back to the spruce tree house. This part of the trail led up to the top of a mesa where I got a very nice view of two large canyons on either side.

Next I drove around what is called the Mesa Top Loop where I got to see several examples of pit-houses and pueblos from various periods of time. It was quite amazing to see how the natives had progressed from living in simple holes in the ground with branches on top to adobe style villages with towers, individual living quarters, and communal spaces.

Late in the afternoon, I had two more stops to make on the loop and they looked as if they might be the most interesting. Unfortunately, a violent thunderstorm quickly moved in to the area. Several dark clouds blotted out the sun and darkened the sky. There were bright flashes of lightening and loud claps of thunder and then the rain came.

By the time I arrived back at camp, I had moved out of the storm area and the sun was shining a gain. I relaxed in camp by reading a book. I really did seem relaxed. I had no thoughts of my other life. It was as if I was living in the moment and enjoying life as it came.

As it grew dark, clouds moved in and the air cooled off to the point that I had to replace my summer wear with some warmer clothes. I could hear children’s voices echoing through the campground. Normally this would irritate me and induce an irrational internal stress, but on this occasion the sounds took me back to centuries before when the sounds of children from dozens of native families must have echoed through the canyons from their cliff palaces. By nine o’clock I was fast asleep – exhausted from a long and active day.

I awoke the next morning about a half hour before the road to the two exhibits I had missed the previous evening opened. I really regretted missing the farming terraces, which were part of the exhibits I missed. So I decided that even though it would cost me an hour in time and thirty miles or so in driving, I would make the extra effort to see the exhibits.

I did not regret my decision. It was a gorgeous morning with not a cloud in the sky. The air temperature and humidity felt wonderful. I walked a mile or so in my sandals to see the exhibits on how the natives used to farm this rocky, steep area.

The ancient natives had built terraces on the hillsides to not only help capture water, but to save the eroding soil for planting. They even built their own reservoir for irrigating crops. Some of the Pueblos included round towers which looked to me to be very similar to the modern day grain silos. Archaeologists have still not figured out exactly why these towers were built although they have many educated guesses.

I was really happy with my visit to Mesa Verde National Park. I had come close to visiting the park the previous Fall when I visited the nearby Anasazi Ruins in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.

I had cut that trip short due to an artificially imposed deadline and had regretted it ever since. Now I had visited Mesa Verde and it had more to offer than I thought. There was still much to explore and I made up my mind to return for another visit some day.