Mesa Verde Day 2

Road Trip!

~ Four Corners ~ Mesa Verde ~ Natural Bridges ~

The next day when we went back, it was a MUCH nicer day!  What a difference a day makes.  The snow and fog were all gone, and we had beautiful blue skies.   As we drove up the mesa, there is an overlook with an absolutely stunning view of the Mancos valley, and the snow capped peaks in the distance were just gorgeous.

We headed back to Spruce Tree House so we could hike Petroglyph trail.  This trail goes to the park's largest petroglyph panel.  We start off as if we're going back to Spruce Tree House, but then veer off and cross the bottom of the canyon and begin hiking right below the sandstone cliffs.  And, remember what I said about being a shutterbug?  

Hayleigh standing in a small alcove at the base of the cliff

Yes, the path goes under that big boulder...

And then down... Photobombed by the hikers behind us!

 Resting, or waiting for mom to catch up... Probably the latter...

A peek back where we'd just come down...

Here we are at another large alcove at the base of the cliff.  

This one was massive...

These are a little dark... I went as far back as I could in the alcove and took these looking out.  

When we were leaving, I turned around and looked up. This is what I saw!

Short girl view...

James took this one, as he is taller and could get a better shot!

They really did put these rooms anywhere they could!

Twisted old tree ~ Close UP!

Twisted old tree.  Pretty cool looking...

 These caught my eye because they were such little, dainty flowers growing under the outcropping.  They must love shade!

Pretty purple flowers!

More steps...

Tight squeeze!

 Another massive cliff we hiked along the base of...

There were lots of little alcoves like this one.  This one really caught my eye because of the amazing color rings inside...

Just some pretty red flowers, growing out of a rock, under a twisted old branch...

 This is looking across the canyon.  It looks as if the tree is growing right out of the cliff side.  Remember this for later...

 Same tree, wide angle shot...

We thought this rock outcropping looked like a head... Do you see the face?  It's almost a profile...

An alcove formed by fallen rocks.  This one is large enough for a group picture!

Without the family...

Just another old twisted juniper... I love how the relentless wind shapes them into twisted, gnarled trees...

Same alcove.  I thought it was pretty cool...

At the base of another massive cliff! Look closely above where they're standing...

More ruins!  These we could hike up to!

This is most likely where someone lived at one time, versus just storage.  See the blackened area on the rock above?  That's from fires for cooking and heat.

This is an interesting rock... The grooves are from tool sharpening.

More pretty, dainty flowers...

And, here's our destination!  This is Mesa Verde's largest petroglyph panel. What's amazing to me, is that even after all the time that's passed since these were carved, they're still visible!  

Just some pretty yellow flowers for Hope...

Remember the tree that looked as if it was growing right out of the side of the cliff?  Here it is.  We walked right behind it! 

Just some dainty white flowers...

I love the way the wind and erosion have shaped this sandstone.

Hannah Standing close to the edge of the cliff... 

We're now above the canyon we just hiked.

And more purple flowers.  Flowers make me happy!

On our way back to the trailhead, we hiked along the top of the cliffs of the canyon.  This old burned out stump caught my eye.  Reminds me of new life springing from the ashes.

A view into the canyon we just hiked.  We're now near the trailhead.

A view of Spruce Tree House from the top of the canyon

After our hike, we went back to the van to have lunch, and we decided to go back to the Cliff Palace Loop to visit some of the turn offs that we didn't do yesterday.   Our first stop gave us great views of Balcony House.  We toured this ruin yesterday.

The ladder we had to climb up to get to Balcony House.  Looks huge from this view.

Here's a better view of House of Many Windows.  We could see it yesterday from the Cliff Palace overlook, but it was harder to see.  

And, even though it's cold, (but not as cold as yesterday!) this little guy sunning himself is a reminder we're in the desert!

By now, the sun was starting to get low, so we headed to the Far View Sites.  Far View was a farming community, likely inhabited from about 900 AD to 1300 AD.  There are several villages, a reservoir, and possibly irrigation ditches.  They even utilized terracing to reduce water runoff and soil erosion.

Far View House was the first one we visited. It's the largest of the villages.

I love how the door ways line up.  You can see in three different rooms.  Interesting how exact they were when building.

Next was Pipe Shrine House.  When Archeologists first excavated this ruin,  they uncovered lots of pipes, thus it's name.  It has this unique, circular carving in an outer wall.  The significance of this carving is unknown.  

Here's a wider view of Pipe Shrine House, and in the distance is Far View House. 

After this, we hiked around a bit, went up to Mummy Lake (which was probably an irrigation reservoir), and then, with the sun getting low in the sky, called it a day.  We're looking forward to our next adventure at Mesa Verde!