April 15-17                                                                                                                                 Farview Lodge

The campground in Mesa Verde is not open for the season yet, so we stayed at the Far View Lodge, which is inside the park.  It was a nice treat to stay at this lovely lodge, which has a very good restaurant. I had Elk Wellington one night!  Very civilized.

Visiting Mesa Verde was a different experience than the other parks we’ve seen so far.  The emphasis has been on the natural world; places on our earth that don’t need human intervention and seem to shake off efforts to be tamed or exploited.  In Mesa Verde the emphasis, at least for me, centers on the human story; the impact that the native people had on these cliffs and mesas, and the legacy they left.

Peublo people lived here from around 550 to 1300 CE.  There are thousands of archaeological sites here that trace the development of their dwellings; from simple pit houses on the tops of the mesas, to the famous cliff dwellings, to large masonry “condominium” buildings and agricultural villages.

We weren’t able to take a formal tour of the cliff dwellings because most of them are not open for the season, but we made several short hikes past sites of pit houses and agricultural scenes. One longer hike took us along a canyon wall to a petroglyph site.

I loved the handprints left by the artists.

We saw several dwelling places along the way.

\The ingenuity and engineering genius of the people who lived here is very impressive.  I didn’t have the feeling that their presence, for the few hundred years they stayed, left a negative impact. What they left is the story of a life centered around religion, community, and respect for the land.

There’s a lot to learn here.  We would like to come back some day when more of the cliff dwellings are open.  Memorial Day seems to be the real start of the season, so we’ll have to keep that in mind!!

And now, as Bryce would say, “on to the next dope adventure!!”