“USA 🇺🇸 Colorado ~Part 1 of 2 in Mesa Verde National Park, Balcony House Cliff Dwelling, and Scenic Drive!”

• September 19, 2022
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

With some lucky adjusting on reservation dates, to avoid storms and rain in the Park, we had a great day for our first of two visits, to Mesa Verde National Park.
I call this success! 

We drove 50 minutes from our stay in Durango, to Mesa Verde National Park pay station. There is not much between but off-season Purgatory’s small ski slopes, and one small cowboy town, called Mancos.
The scenery is very pretty on this drive, but I’m a huge fan of Colorado, so I find beauty everywhere we go, here.
(I used to live in Colorado at one time and loved it)!

NOTE: With this visit to Mesa Verde National Park, we have now completed the “National Parks of the Grand Circle:” Arizona, New Mexico, Utah Nevada, and Colorado.
We started in later spring, and it is now, almost fall. We don’t rush anywhere, so of course this can all be done much quicker, but that’s just not how we roll. We also visited all the national monuments near the Parks, too.

We feel very accomplished and made lots of memories over the last several months!
The Large Grand Circle encompasses 10 National Parks that are all near each other, and are all vastly beautiful.

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Mesa Verde National Park ⬇️
is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, located in Montezuma County, Colorado, and Consists of 52,485 acres.
On June 29, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt established Mesa Verde National Park to “preserve the works of man,” and was the first national park of its kind. It preserves and interprets the archaeological heritage of the Ancestral Puebloan people…(formally known as the Anasazi people, when I was here in 2005). To help understand the timeline; cliff dwellings we’re built by ancient peoples who left these homes 200 years before Christopher Columbus set foot in the “new world.”
When the ancients were living here, they did so for over 700 year; from 600 to 1300 AD.
While still farming the mesa tops, many Ancestral Puebloans lived in pueblos, built beneath the overhanging cliffs. The structures ranged in size from one-room storage areas to villages of more than 150 rooms. They continued to reside in the alcoves; repairing, remodeling, and constructing new rooms, for nearly a century.
By the late 1270s, the population migrated south into present-day New Mexico and Arizona.
These sites, left behind, are some of the most notable and best-preserved in the United States.
In 1978, Mesa Verde National Park was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of its exceptional archaeological relevance.
Mesa Verde National Park preserves a spectacular look into the ancient lives of America’s First Peoples.
Today, the continued preservation of both cultural and natural resources is the focus of the Park’s research and resource management staff.
Mesa Verde National Park (Spanish for green table) has over 4,700 archaeological sites including 600 cliff dwellings and the mesa top sites of pithouses, pueblos, masonry towers, and farming structures, with many more yet to be revealed.
For the first six centuries, they primarily lived on the mesa tops. It was not until the final 75 to 100 years that they constructed and lived in the cliff dwellings for which Mesa Verde is best known.

I visited Mesa Verde in 2005. It was just me and I absolutely fell in love with this park!
I also remember getting caught driving in a very intense storm with giant-sized hail, which I will never forget! Daryl has never been to this Park, so I couldn’t wait to show him.
Back in those days, one could enter the ancient cliff dwellings without a reservation/tour. There are three major such dwellings that should not be missed. I picked a sunny day and went freely from one dwelling to the next; easily done in a day, including enjoying the scenic drive and lookouts.
The Park Rangers were in the dwellings and gave talks, if one was interested. If not, that was okay, too.

Me in 2005 ⬆️

NOW, advanced reservations are required and must be done, online. It also costs $8pp. Space is limited on the required tours and forget about picking that perfect weather day to go. Ugh!
I also don’t care to have 25 people in a group, wandering around a small area of what I’m taking pictures of.  Because of the reservations, we had to make two trips to the Park, in order to complete what we want to see, because the tickets are limited and sometimes there are only 1 ticket left, several weeks in advance; AFTER the busy summer season, and we are a party of two.
Clearly, I’m not a big fan of these advanced ticketing requirements. Most of the (more popular) National Parks are going to this system. It kills the spontaneity of it all.
As I write this blog, I’m keeping an eye on the weather, for tomorrow; Sunday, hoping the sunshine, holds, for our second visit, to do two more tours.
In addition, after we did our one tour on this day, we had to make a practice run, between two cliff dwellings to make sure I got the start times correct, with enough time in between tours, because there is a 40-minute drive inside the Park, between one tour and the next.
NOTE: in the perfect world, try to get tickets for Balcony House and Cliff Palace, as these are very close together. Long House is the 40-minute drive away, PLUS, you must hike 25 minutes to the trail head, to meet the range at the start time.

Balcony House Cliff Dwelling  ⬇️
Our Tour on this day was for “Balcony House,” at 9AM. This was suppose to be a one-hour tour, but due to the difficulty for some with climbing; a mix of people and their capabilities might not being very realistic, it took an extra half an hour. There was too much time standing around and forget about sitting, or leaning on the ancient structures. 😂 Can’t go on without the ranger, due to locked gates at the exit. The big guy we’re up front, and did just fine and was able to get photos without all the humans in front.

What to Expect:
On this one-hour tour, you will climb a 32-foot ladder, crawl through an 18-inch wide; 8-foot long tunnel, and climb up a 60-foot open cliff face, with uneven stone steps and two 17-foot ladders to exit.

Safety Information:
Consider your physical health before joining a hike, especially if you have heart or respiratory problems, or other physical difficulties. Elevations range between 7,000 and 7,500 feet above sea level. You should plan for all weather possibilities because conditions are quite variable.

There are no height or age restrictions for this tour, but children must be capable of climbing the ladders on their own. Infants must be placed in a carrier and the adults carrying them must be able to maintain mobility and balance.

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There is a cliff dwelling called “Spruce Tree” near the Museum and ranger housing area. I was able to get to this small cliff dwelling, back in 2005, but since that time, a large boulder has found its way, from above and now blocks the trail. I read there is no fix for removing the boulder.

I’m not a museum fan, anywhere I go, but this museum is awesome, since examples of the many relics taken out of the dwellings are shown here.
ONLY, the museum was closed for remodeling, so the big guy couldn’t see. 🥲 Big bummer! 

⬆️ My honey took a walk as far as he could go. This was his first up-close glimpse of a cliff dwelling, as was mine; 17 years ago, same place. It’s something you don’t forget.

Since we could only go on one tour for this visit to the Park, we took the time to drive all through the Park, which we wouldn’t have as much time for, when we return for two tours. (tomorrow)

I have never seen this Park so green. This was quite enjoyable, as I was here a few years after the latest fire, of 2002. It was burned black and still very dry and brown, due to the current drought (ongoing) at that time. There have been many fires, prior to 2002, and just the bushy bushes have returned.

Scenic Drive Through Verde National Park ⬇️
Mesa Too Loop Road (the main road and partially closed for us on this day) Cliff Palace Loop, and Wetherill Mesa Road are the routes through the Park.
All are spectacular!
The routes into and around the Park are steep, narrow, winding mountain road. Depending on weather, traffic, and road construction, plan at least two hours just to drive into and out of the park. From the pay station, it’s at least an hours drive to Balcony House.

Park Point Overlook is the highest point in Mesa Verde. It is home to a fire lookout and some of the most impressive views of the park. The trail is an easy walk on a paved road so the area should be able to be enjoyed by most.

The Fire Lookout is pretty obvious, the only building in the area. It was built in the 1930’s and was previously manned; 24 hours a day, during the fire season. Rangers would mark lightning strikes and check for smoke through the windows of the lookout. The lookout found itself in some disrepair and was restored in 2009.
While technology has taken over a big part of fire watching, it is always nice to see the look at the past combine with the future.

Across Cliff Canyon, perched on a ten foot wide ledge, is the “House of Many Windows.”
Like all cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, the opening you see are not really windows, but doors that could have been covered with stone slabs or animal hides.
From here, you can see four doors remaining in the original eleven rooms. There is also evidence of a kiva on the north end of the ledge among the trees. Above this is a toehold trail that leads to the upper alcove and one or possibly two rooms. The toeholds trail then leads to the mesa top from this upper alcove.
For the people who lived in the “House of Many Windows,” the closest water source was probably below Sun Temple or from a seep spring on the south side of Sun Point.

Ancients scraped stones for collecting water 

“Hemenway House” is a cliff dwellings in a canyon wall and the rim above.
There are several lookouts with parking, and some with trails, if you want to hike to some of these dwellings. I read hikers must register at the museum for un assisted hiking. Since the museum is currently closed, I guess you can ask a ranger. 

“Cliff Canyon” Cliff Dwelling

Did you know that it takes almost 500 years for a mature pinyon-juniper forest to regrow after a wildfire?

⬆️ This is a one foot tall tree. It very well might be 20 or more years old!
In the past 25 years, over 50% of Mesa Verde National Park has burned, as evidenced by the thousands of spindly, charred trees you can see as you make your way through the park.
All the major fires that have burned here have been caused by lightning. Due to a drought much like the one the Ancestral Pueblo people would have experienced nearly 800 years ago, the risk of wildfires is increasing and with it, the risk that we will lose valuable cultural and natural resources.
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More scenic views inside the Park ⬇️ 

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If you want to go, and enjoy ranger-led tours into the Cliff dwellings, which is the only way to be allowed into them, here is the link: https://www.recreation.gov

DRIVING THROUGH THIS PARK TAKES TIME

The cliff dwelling tours are only available between May and October (the exact dates vary), so make sure to plan your trip during this timeframe, if you want to experience this.
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To view my next blog: Part 2 of 2 of Mesa Verde National Park, click this link:
https://2gypsiesinthewind.com/northamerica/united-states/colorado/usa-colorado-part-2-of-2-in-mesa-verde-national-park-cliff-palace-and-long-house-cliff-dwelling-tours-and-flat-view-ruins/

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