Day 26 - Mesa Verde and Durango

Today we got up early (5:45 a.m.) so that we could go on a half-day, ranger-lead tour of some of the key sites at Mesa Verde National Park.  Although the campground was in the Park, it was a long way from where we were supposed to get on the bus for the tour (at 8 am) and we had to find a place to park the trailer since we were not allowed to pull the trailer up the mesa into the center of the park.  Fortunately, you tend to go to sleep early when you are camping in campgrounds without electrical hookups.

The tour was fantastic.  Joan enjoyed the fact that our bus driver was named Joan.  Ranger Kevin Lloyd did a great job making sense of 700 years of ancient pueblo ruins, and he became a hero when he went over the rail at a clifftop overlook to rescue a new hat that had blown off Joan's head.

Mesa Verde is truly an amazing place.  They claim to have over 4500 documented archeological sites in the Park and over 600 separate pueblo ruin sites.  The tour began with the earliest sites (simple pit houses) built around 600 AD and ended with the spectacular Cliff Palace site used from about 1200 AD to 1300 AD. 

Pit House - 600 AD

 



Cliff Palace - 1200 AD



Although Joan was initially uncertain about whether she wanted to ascend and descend all of the steps and ladders to get up and down the cliff faces to the ruins, she turned out to be a monkey, ascending the steepest ladders without a complaint.

After the tour, Joan returned to the Visitor Center to get another Junior Ranger badge before we headed down the road for Durango.  We had hoped to get to Durango early enough to get some repairs to the trailer (to fix damage from the tire blowout on July 2), but the only RV Repair shop was booked until next week.  Instead, we found a campsite beside a mountain creek, and then walked around downtown Durango. 

After a dinner beside the creek, we went to the campground office for ice cream and a few rounds of tether ball.  As soon as I finish this blog, we are headed back outside to enjoy the cool mountain air and the sound of the creek.