Day 22 of our 30-day Southwest Grand Circle Caravan – Mesa Verde National Park (Part 2)

Okay, in the last blog, I left off at the Spruce Tree House. As I said before, the first view of these amazing homes is just awe inspiring. 

We left the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum and headed toward the Mesa Top Loop. The Mesa Top Loop is a six mile self-guided auto tour of 600 years of Ancestral Puebloan architectural development. This loop reveals a full range of architecture at Mesa Verde, from the earliest pit houses to the latest cliff dwellings. On this loop you can see the progression of the home structures of the Ancestral Puebloans from 600 AD to 1300 AD.

Our first stop was the Pit Houses. The pit house is just what is sounds like ... a shallow pit is dug out, poles are used to support the mud roof and walls. You enter the home through the roof. The first pit house we stopped at is the best preserved anywhere. It shows features common to nearly all of these houses. The larger space is the main living area, with a fire pit in the center. The smaller room is called an antechamber, where food and firewood was stored. Can you imagine living in a pit house with your extended family?

Navajo Canyon View was our next stop. It gives you the view of how the mesas reach like long fingers to the south. Deep sand-stone walled canyons, like the Navajo Canyon, have cut northward, isolating each smaller mesa. All the canyons drain their water into the Mancos River. This was one of the first places that we noticed we could hear birds singing again. We realized, that in the high deserts we have been in, have been silent!

Rick also thought he saw remains from a cliff dwelling here. Charlie had his binoculars and he thought so too. I used my zoom and here is the picture. It was not until we saw this picture that we were sure of what we saw!

The other unique feature we saw here, was the flaking off of the perfectly square pieces of the rock wall. Amazing!

Just around the corner, Nancy, Donna and I took a short trail to see the Square Tower House. The quick trip down the trail was so very worth it! I would have to say, this was my favorite home site so far! It is a beautiful cliff dwelling built into an alcove in the upper walls of Navajo Canyon. 
The name comes from the striking four-story-high structure, that is still standing. It is not a free standing tower, but more a part off the architectural design. About 60 of the original 80 rooms remain. People lived here between 1200 and 1300 AD. This site has undergone stabilization treatments every decade since 1930. Despite that, what you see is ninety percent original. WOW!

At the Mesa Top Sites, this complex site shows three building sequences and architectural styles. The earliest village has post-and-adobe walls. The second village was single course masonry. 

Each village was superimposed on the other, and only a little evidence of each is now exposed. We are looking at the kiva from each settlement.

We stopped at Sun Point View. We scanned the cliffs and continued to see more and more cliff dwellings. Some were well preserved, others just had partial walls standing. Between 1200 and 1300 AD, half of the population of Chapin Mesa was concentrated here in these dwellings. We learned the names of a few of them ...

Oak Tree House

Fire Temple

New Fire House

We headed around to the secondary loop at Chapin Mesa to see the Sun Temple. It is a facinating structure at Mesa Verde. It is believed that this building was constructed for worship. Some believe that because of its size, it could be called a temple. Geometric designs were pecked into the face of some stones. No roof beams were found, so it is believed that this structure was never finished.

Our last overlook in Chain Mesa, gave us a view of the Cliff Palace the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The alcove that houses the Cliff Palace measures 215 feet wide, 90 feet deep and 60 feet tall. It includes about 150 rooms, 75 constructed open areas, 21 kivas and 2 "kiva-like" structures. It is estimated that construction started in 1190 AD and continues for almost 100 years. It is an amazing look at masonry work from that era. 

Amazing, what else can you say?

As we were enjoying the views of the Cliff Palace, we saw lightening and heard thunder. We decided that it was time to get off the mountain! 

As we started our twenty plus mile drive back to the park entrance, we did capture a glimpse of a few wild turkeys. The "tail-enders" from our caravan were lucky enough to see a bear roaming the park.

We decided to enjoy a late lunch or early dinner at Tequila’s Mexican Family Restaurant. It was recommended by another couple in our caravan. 








It served authentic Mexican food, which I have missed since we left Florida! After that meal, we had no energy to do anything else!

Stay tuned for our next adventure in Cortez Colorado!