Mesa Verde, Colorado The Cliffdwellings

The Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings are from Ancenstral Pueblo Indians

I actually drove here from Moab, Utah because Doug was still recovering from the hike. Of course it was dark and stormy by the time we reached Mesa Verde. The road was two lane and went straight up a mountain to the lodge. It was crazy steep and had switchback after switchback. The lightning was really unnerving to Peyton, but we we okay. We even had a coyote get in the road in front of us and walk pretty calmly until he was ready to move into the brush. I was excited because it was another animal we could add to our list.

We met our Park Ranger tour guide at a scenic overlook. You cannot see the cliff dwellings from here because they are actually in the cliff directly beneath us.

The tour group walked down a walkway to a 30 foot ladder on the side of the cliff. This is how we enter the dwelling. The Pueblos did not have the benefit of the metal walkway stable ledge which is pretty frightning.

 

This is our guide and ranger explaining safety precautions.

Peyton and Eli climbing the ladder. Eli was a little mountain goat here. Remember, this ladder is on a ledge that is hanging on the side of a cliff. It was pretty scary but again, Eli has no fear of heights.

This is the inside of the dwelling. There were 40 rooms within the entire dwelling and the rooms were small. They had storage rooms and living rooms. Nearly 80% of the structure is original, and yet the Pueblos lived here around 1200 AD.

Here is another view of the inside---and Doug's head.

Peyton would have never made it as a Pueblo; he is way too tall for that. The hole that Eli is looking through on the right is a door. This shows two stories. The upper opening is for the second floor.

 The Anasazi people (Pueblos) were small in stature. There was a 13 foot long tunnel we had to crawl through that was 13 inches wide at it's smallest point. There was a lot of turning and twisting to get through.

But we made it out and learned a lot about Pueblo life. It was very interesting but there are still more questions rather than answers when it comes to the cliff dwellings. Why did they use them? Why did they leave? This was a pretty cool stop on our journey through the West.