Adventure Vacations with the Yelton Family: Day 38 ~ Mesa Verde National Park

Day 38 ~ Mesa Verde National Park

I had mixed feelings about what we set out to do today. The warnings about the trails to the cliff dwellings are enough to scare anyone….even Mike! Well, actually, Mike wasn’t scared, but Natalie and I weren’t sure we were going to want to climb the cliffs on ladders to see this prehistoric ruin. Yet, for 23 years, I have been curious about seeing this strange unusual place. Mesa Verde, home of the ancient Pueblo people, the Anasazi, was featured in the Indiana third grade social studies book. It was hard to teach that chapter for 10 years and not itch to see it with your own eyes! Yet……the 32 foot ladders up the side of a cliff…….Not really my cup of tea! Throughout this trip, I have waffled back and forth about doing this or sitting this one out. I wanted to do it, but I am not exactly into high places, and I am certainly not sure footed.

I guess I also feel like we have seen SO many great things. I never think the next thing is going to be as good as what we have already seen……..Ta Da! Mesa Verde was not only just as good as everything else we have seen, but probably even one of the best things yet!

We arrived early because we only had one day here, and it can be hard to get tickets for the ranger led tours to the cliff dwellings, which is the most important part. Since tickets are sold 2 days in advance, it would be iffy to get the tickets, anyway. Since we got there early, we were able to acquire the two most dangerous tours. The third would have been good too, but it was completely sold out for today first thing in the morning. Bummer.

Mesa means table top in Spanish. Verde means green. So these cliff dwelling Indians lived on tall flat mountains that were green on top. So we bought our tickets at the visitor’s center then drove up the mesa.

The Visitor's Center is designed to look like it fits in the landscape.

Going Up!

View from the Near Top

We watched the movie and viewed most of the museum exhibits before our tour time. We meant to go back to the museum, but ran out of time. We ate a quick picnic lunch. Then went on a self guided hike to the Spruce Tree House, which is a small cliff dwelling. In this prehistoric ruin, we could climb a ladder down into a kiva, which is an underground room, accessed by a ladder. The room was used for religious ceremonies among other possibilities. There is very little known about these ancient people because they left the cliff dwellings hundreds of years ago and joined the other Pueblo Indian groups in the Southwest. So most of the history about these people is just conjecture…….Which Mike and Harrison LOVE. They spent the car ride back to the campground asking each other questions and coming up with probable answers. It really is a fascinating study in anthropology.

It wasn't surprising that we would have to hike down a very steep trail to get to the cliff dwellings. Back up is always killer, especially at such a high altitude of 7500 ft.

Adobe Apartment Houses Built into a Cliff

Rooms were reinforced with tree wood. This is how the archeologists were able to date the buildings. They could look at the tree rings and see where the rings showed droughts and match them to corresponding dates.

Downstairs in a Kiva......Or should I say "Downladders"?

Coming Up!

Honestly, I don't know why people go to Europe to see the ancient ruins if they haven't first visited Mesa Verde! This place is our own ancient ruins! They are beautiful and amazing, and they are ours!

Then we went on the Cliff Palace tour, which was ranger led. I was encouraged because this tour wasn’t really that difficult. It was hot. It was mostly in the sun. It was steep. There were 4 medium sized ladders. There were skinny spots to squeeze through and uneven stone steps, but the Yelton family breezed right through. I was able to snap off lots and lots of pictures as we went along with the other 46 people on the tour.

First Ladder - A Cinch!

It was a piece of cake! Other than being out of breath because of the high altitude, it was not that much of a physical challenge for us. Good thing we walked all those trails down to the Sequoia Trees!

The beautiful Cliff Palace was the reward at the end of the hike! The Anasazi People didn't use ladders or steps to get to their alcove apartment building! They used toe holds they carved out of the rock to scale the side. They toted all the materials down to the cliff overhang in baskets to build this community. Simply Amazing.

Cliff Palace

We refilled water bottles and went to use the restrooms……but unfortunately, it was the kind of restroom with “smoke stacks.” So the kids refused to go…..I was going to brave it because I felt a little desperate since we were about to embark on a long tour that would be physically challenging. However, there was puke all over both bathrooms! I decided to hold it. The ranger talked about getting elevation sickness, so I guess that is the proof that happens to people! We were at 7500 ft. elevation. Despite needing to go to the bathroom, I drank a little more water as insurance against elevation sickness.

The balcony tour was a challenge! I won’t lie. It was a little scary….Well….a lot scary in one place. Natalie and Harrison took off right up a ladder in the throes of lots of people. I thought Natalie should have stuck with Mike for protection as she sometimes freezes up in high places. This is what I said to myself: Look only at your hands moving up and don’t look down. I made it up, but couldn’t look down to take a picture of the ladders. The ranger hooked his leg around the post at the top and leaned out and snapped a picture for me! Thank you very much.

The Big Ladder.....Not too bad if you don't look down. It is about as tall as a two story building, but very sturdy.

Up they went! At least they aren't scardy-pants like their mom!

Balcony House - The Ranger is perched up top talking about the house and people.

This was a fascinating experience. Mike loved it because he loves architecture and studying the building practices. Harrison and I love the history. Natalie loves the nature. Win/win for all of us. As usual, pictures really don’t do this place justice.

View from inside Balcony House

Grinding Stones....This is what I would have done all day so I didn't have to scale the wall. I would never have gone out of my cliff home.....ever.....ever. Too scary!

Next we had to crawl through a tunnel……A very little tunnel that was smaller than the brim of the ranger’s hat. I am embarrassed to say it was too small for my butt. It actually bruised my hip bones. Plus, I had a little panic attack in the dark space because I was afraid I would get wedged in….or have to tell the nice ranger that I didn’t fit. Plus, there was no way Mike was going to fit through that hole. By the time I got over my panic attack (with my kids hooting with laughter on the other side….) and managed to squeeze through the second hole with absolutely no grace at all, Mike was already through both holes when I turned around to warn him to go back the way we came! I guess that proves who has the biggest butt in this family!

Another tall 32 ft. ladder climb……

But the worst was yet to come. There were these hewn rock ledges up which you had to scale the side of the mountain to the top. They had fencing around them, but it was way too close for comfort and way, way, way steep. I couldn’t even take pictures because I had to just concentrate on breathing and not looking down….or to the side…..or up……or anywhere but on my hands going up. When I finally made it to the top and looked down, Mike was having a hey day with the camera. He isn’t bothered by heights at all. In fact, he loves them.

This is me trying to get up the hewn stone steps.....Not very graceful, but I did it!

All in all, I was pretty darn proud of myself for doing this scary thing. I had worried about this trail for a long time, not sure if I would attempt it. I am really glad I got to experience these amazing dwellings before I was too old to climb the ladders!

View from the top of the climb out of Balcony House

Victory!

We finished the day with a driving loop on the top of the mesa. You could see other cliff apartment houses that aren't open to the public. I guess when I taught this to third graders out of a book, I didn't realize there were so many different ruins. It was really an interesting day.