Ancient Puebloans and Cairns

Ancient Puebloans and Cairns

6-25-16

DAY 7

Today got have our first day of the trip with Papa. The main highlight of today visiting Mesa Verde. This National Park has cliff dwellings of Ancient Puebloans who lived here 1150-1300 AD. Driving into the park, we saw lots evidence of many different stages of forest regeneration from fires. In the rock, you can see many different layers and can learn about what was happening environmentally during different time periods. Mesa Verde is on a dry desert plateau at almost 10,000 feet.

While in Mesa Verde, we first saw Spruce Tree House which isn't open to visitors because the arch over the dwelling is about to collapse. Next we saw cliff palace where we took some pictures. We had to hurry to make our tour of Balcony House. It is named for the balcony in this dwelling which is rare for cliff dwellings (there is  usually just a sheer drop off with no barrier). The tour included a 32 ft ladder (made Maya nervous) and crawling through a small tunnel. We learned about seep springs, kivas, construction techniques, adaptations, and more. I thought the tour was really well done and the guide told engaging stories.

After Mesa Verde, we headed towards Telluride, CO. We stopped at the Anasazi Hertitage Center near Cortez, CO. There was a movie about the Puebloan People (Mama and Maya fell asleep). There were interactive activities, lots of really cool old artifacts, beautiful traditional baskets. There was even a 7000 year old basket (2nd oldest in North America) which had to be kept in the dark to keep it preserved.

Finally, we needed to find a place to camp for the night and ended up at a National Forest campground called Cayton. It was clean and quiet, nestled in a mountain pass in the Rockies. We loved the mountain stream which was right next to our campsite. Maya and James built some huge cairns. Tomorrow, we're getting up early and heading off to Telluride!