Ted got up early and drove to Mancos where they were having an early morning hot air balloon event. He got to see them launch eight balloons.
When he returned, we got ready to go back to Mesa Verde to see some of the places we were too tired to visit the first time. We entered the park and drove all the way to the Chapin Mesa in order to see Spruce Tree House which is a wonderfully restored cliff house just below the museum. The cliff houses in the park are so much better preserved than the pueblos built on the mesa as they have protection from the cliff that they are built in and Spruce Tree House is the best preserved of them all. The alcove the pueblo is in is two hundred sixteen feet long, and had a hundred twenty rooms, ten associated ledge rooms, eight kivas and two towers.
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| First 2 Balloons Up at 7:20am |
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| My Favorite |
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| Next Favorite Lifting Off |
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| 3 of the 8 Balloons Over Mancos Village |
We could see the Spruce Tree House from the top of the mesa and walked the half mile trail down through switchbacks to reach pueblo. We were able to be closer to this pueblo than any of the others and were even able to climb a ladder down into a covered kiva. There were rangers on hand to answer questions and prevent damage to the pueblo but we were free to take our time and explore the amazing structures. The builders were so precise and carved the building stones to fit the contours of the cliff overhead. Visiting this pueblo was worth the thirty mile trip back into the park.
We made a short stop at Cedar Tree Tower. Kivas and towers were often connected but archeologists don't know why.
At Far View Sites, we found five different pueblo areas ranging in age from 800 to 1300 a.d. as well as a large reservoir. Far View House was named for the large view across the mesa and down into the valleys while Pipe Shrine House was named for the decorative pipes found in the kiva. The reservoir had steps leading down into it for water bearers and a steep ramp on the far side for water intake. There is evidence of ditches leading to or from it. It is ninety feet in diameter and twelve feet deep and a unique feature at Mesa Verde. At Coyote Village, we were able to walk on the pueblo. One of the interesting features was a row of bins beside a grinding stone where corn would have been ground and stored. Because they used sandstone to grind their corn, there was much sand in their food and from remains found, their teeth were ground down to short stubs.
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| Mesa Verde From a Distance |
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| Road Winds Back and Forth Climbing The First Mesa |
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| The Spruce Tree House |
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| Half Mile Descending Paved Walkway |
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| Switchbacks |
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| Many T-shaped Doors |
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| Blackened Ceilings From Cook Fires |
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| Covered Kiva With Ladder |
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| They Called All the Openings Doors |
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| Kiva Without Cover |
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| We Were Allowed to Climb Down |
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| Not Bad Once Our Eyes Adjusted |
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| How About That Ladder Rung Wear |
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| About Half Way Across |
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| Puebloans |
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| There is a Large Open Area Behind This Room |
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| Looking Back the Other Way |
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| Early 1900s Condition and Artist's Conception |
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| The Cheaters Viewed From Up There |
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| Interesting Cactus Near Museum |
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| Cedar View Tower |
At Far View Sites, we found five different pueblo areas ranging in age from 800 to 1300 a.d. as well as a large reservoir. Far View House was named for the large view across the mesa and down into the valleys while Pipe Shrine House was named for the decorative pipes found in the kiva. The reservoir had steps leading down into it for water bearers and a steep ramp on the far side for water intake. There is evidence of ditches leading to or from it. It is ninety feet in diameter and twelve feet deep and a unique feature at Mesa Verde. At Coyote Village, we were able to walk on the pueblo. One of the interesting features was a row of bins beside a grinding stone where corn would have been ground and stored. Because they used sandstone to grind their corn, there was much sand in their food and from remains found, their teeth were ground down to short stubs.
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| Far View House |
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| Far View House |
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| Pipe Shrine House |
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| Pipe Shrine House Looking Toward Far View House |
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| Another View of Pipe Shrine House |
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| Far View Tower |
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| Another View of Far View Tower |
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| Reservoir - Intake on Far Side |
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| Another View of Reservoir |
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| Enclosure Built to Protect Megalithic House |
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| Megalithic House |
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| Bins For Storing Meal |
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| One of Five Kivas |
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| Well Preserved - The Pueblo, Not Sheila |
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| Thirty Ground Floor Rooms Housing Forty to Fifty People |
We continued working our way out of the park stopping at overlooks. From some overlooks we could see the layers of winding roads that take you into and out of the park. There is a fire station at Park Point, elevation 8,600 feet, where you can see up to a hundred fifty miles in all directions if the weather and smog allow. We could see the Abajo mountains that we had climbed on our way out of Canyonlands, the Manti-La Sal Mountains we had climbed near Arches and Moab, Sleeping Ute Mountain, tall Mount Wilson and Lone Cone over fourteen thousand feet high, the San Juan and La Plata Mountains that we were in this week and many more to the south that we have yet to explore.
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| This Showed Layers That Stopped Water Causing It To Seep Out |
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| Once Covered by a Shallow Sea |
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| Some of the Roads and View From Park Point |
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| More Roads and Sleeping Ute |
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| The Drop Offs Are Steeper Than They Appear Here |
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| Looking Toward the San Juan Mountains |
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| More Winding Road |
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| Dead Trees Looked Like Antlers |
When we got back to the campground, it started raining off and on so we missed our last night of happy hour with Frank and Linda.
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