Day 8 – Mesa Verde National Park, Part 2

Phil’s Take

Megan decided to sit this post out, so it’ll be just me today.

The two of us parents have been talking about how there are more benefits to such a trip than just seeing the sights. A perfect example is how we started the day. The kids were playing very nicely with each other, and it appears that they are getting along better and better as we go. I’m not sure whether or is the cramped confines of the camper or what, but they are doing noticeably less fighting.

Today’s plan was to head out to Wetherill Mesa first thing in the morning and hike to the major stuff there under a mile radius. The drive out was quite a bit of new road, with new vistas we hadn’t seen yet. They didn’t have names, and it was clear that this portion of the park is not maintained as well as the other area where Cliff Palace is. The sights were beautiful nonetheless.

Near the parking lot where all the hikes start, the land turned barren from a fire, which might have been the Pony Fire in 2000. They actually mention that there isn’t much shade because of it.

The first trail we hiked was a fairly short spur down to the Step House. There was a beautiful view of the canyon in the way down, though the camera was a bit dirty.

Because of the approach, it was hard to get a good view of the structures as a whole, but there was a partially reconstructed example building which showed how they built the wood portions and outer siding.

It was the first I had seen of a building foundation that was perfectly round and smooth.

I had to carry Emmett nearly the whole way, and was feeling it toward the end. The combination of yesterday and the climb back up was brutal. Emilia was a champ and did everything in her own.

Once we got back to the top, we headed to the Badger House Community area, where there were 4 buildings covering ruins to protect them. We took the jogging stroller with pneumatic wheels, since the trails were flat and I didn’t feel like carrying Emmett, who was super whiny and low energy all day. Once we reached the bathrooms in the area, we had a brief lunch. That did not improve the status of the whiny toddler, but at least he was not hungry for a few minutes.

The first one was labeled Basketmaker Pithouses, which were interesting because they were neither rectangular or round, like everything else we had seen. They were apparently the earliest buildings built in the area.

Next we went to the area labeled Pueblo Village, where the ruins were covered by a large “L” shaped building. It showed more of how they built their communities together. There was an interesting circular ruin there that didn’t look like the kivas we had seen in the newer ruins, but showed probably an earlier version.

Third was the Badger House, which had a tower outside the protective building

and a 41 ft tunnel they dug to it from one of the buildings nearby.

The last of the areas was called Two Raven House, which showed some newer construction, with deeper pits and more intricate construction.

After the Badger House Community area, we headed for the Long House Overlook to get the closest view of Long House we could get, since we didn’t book that tour. We were told by one of the rangers earlier that Long House was the most well preserved ruin accessible to the public.

At this point, I wanted to do one remaining overlook that was another mile, but Megan wasn’t up for it. I guess Emmett wasn’t the only one struggling a bit today. I ended up power walking it alone.

The overlook have a great view of the Nordenskiold Site #16 ruins, which had a great example of multi level buildings, where they would typically store grain to keep it out of the weather and reach of rodents.

Once I met everyone back at the parking lot, it was time to head to the museum, where we got Emilia her junior ranger badge and Emmett made it difficult to enjoy the exhibits for both us and those around us. It was clear he was in need of a nap, so we bailed on that to quickly take a look at the ruin opposite the museum in the other side of the canyon called Spruce Tree House. This one actually looked more intact to me than Long House.

Our last adventure for the day in the park was to drive the Mesa Top Loop while we tried to enjoy an audio tour and get Emmett to nap. We took turns walking out to see the sights so he could stay in the truck and hopefully sleep.

There was an awesome view of Navajo Canyon.

There was a cool run with a big tower aptly named Square Tower House.

The next few stops demonstrated progress in the construction of buildings over time, as seen at the Pithouse & Early Pueblos stop,

the Mesa Top Sites stop, where they showed both old

and new construction techniques, indicating that they built over the top of older structures, just like in other parts of the world we consider more civilized.

The remaining stops were mostly interesting due to the views of the ruins on the other side of the canyon, including Cliff Palace, which we toured yesterday.

All in all, this was a great day of seeing just how vast and interesting the people were that lived here and summer amazing views. See the details in the following gallery with the most pictures we’ve taken in a day so far.