Arrived in Cortez, Colorado late this morning. This is our 37th state, if you count Michigan it is 38th (according to Andy). We are staying in a brand new RV park on the Ute Indian land. We drove about 9 miles to the Mesa Verde National Park entrance, but the cliff dwellings are about 20-23 miles in the back of the park and an elevation of 8,572 feet. We couldn't figure out way the Ancestral Puebloans would life up here so high. Then realized how flat it was on top.
Mesa Verde, Spanish for "green table", is so called because of its comparatively level top, covered with juniper and pinyon trees. This park consists of nearly 5,000 archeological sites, which includes 600 cliff dwellings. The hundreds of alcoves eroded in the cliffs are some of the world's largest and best preserved dwellings. These date back to the early 1200 and the Basket Makers were the early inhabitants. Unfortunately, this time of year is still considered "winter" and not all the dwellings were open. We were able to walk to the Spruce Tree House only, but the road was plowed to drive and view some of the other dwellings from the canyon rim. There is one cliff dwelling, Balcony House, that is in a high alcove and can only be reached by a 32-foot ladder. Most of the dwellings are visited on ranger-guided trips only.
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