September 25, 2007

September 25, 2007

We spent a cold night in the RV. After descending out of the mountains I thought we had returned to warmer weather. I didn’t need to see the frost on the picnic table to know it got below freezing last night. Being in Mesa Verde National Park, we didn’t have electricity hookup and the furnace blower quickly wore down the battery. From now on it is only electrical sites for us till we hit warm weather again.

Waking early we head farther into Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde was the first cultural National Park and has lots of Anasazi cliff dwellings. At the Visitor Center we purchase tickets to tour two of the cliff dwellings. We start with a tour of the star attraction and the largest, the Cliff Palace. The Anasazi were the ancient Indians of the southwest that built their houses under the overhangs of the many cliffs of the Southwest. Aimee and I have been to a few others. Mesa Verde is one of the few large-scale sites in good condition that you can climb thru. One of the reasons that the Anasazi built their houses under overhangs was that they were a regular source of water. Aimee and I know that finding water in the desert is a challenge, even today.

We also learn about the Anasazi’s construction of Kivas. These were large circular wells with a central fire pit and ventilation system. The guide said he believed they were for ceremonial uses. After last night I am sure they were built to stave off the cold winter nights here.

We eat an early lunch because our second tour, the Balcony House, is at noon. As the name implies it has a big balcony with a great view. This one was built almost as a fortress. My view is that the population was growing, the water was getting scarce and the tribal elite started building these fortress-like houses on the water springs to secure them for their family. Aimee likes this tour because of the adventure. Getting in and out required climbing ladders, crawling thru tunnels and negotiating sheer dropoffs.

After these guided tours on the Cliff Palace Loop, we head to the Chapin Mesa Museum to watch a very good film on the Anasazi culture and run thru the exhibits. Despite not being terribly interested in Stone Age cultures, the museum was extremely well done. Behind the museum is another cliff dwelling, the Spruce Tree House that we tour on our own. We finish our tour of Mesa Verde with a drive on the Mesa Top Loop. It follows the rim where we can see that Mesa Verde contains quite a few parallel canyons. From the rim drive we pass loads of cliff houses. The Anasazi supposedly had more people living in this area than live here today.

We spend the night in a private park (with electricity) just outside the gate of the park.