Visiting the Ancient Puebloan dwellings

Today was an incredible day!  We left Moab in the morning and went straight to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.  I have always been intrigued by the cliff dwellings of the ancient Puebloan people but never thought I would be lucky enough to actually see them!

Cliff Palace

It is very lucky that I read somewhere this park takes a full day to see.  It takes almost one hour to drive from the entrance to the cliff dwellings! The mountain just seems to go on and on. We booked a Ranger guided tour of the Cliff Palace, which is the biggest dwelling in the park.  There are over 600 settlements in the park!! This gives an idea of how big this park is.  To get to the Cliff Palace, you have to be brave, not afraid of heights, ladders and slippery, uneven stone steps.  You go down and down until you are standing where people raised their families (and turkeys) over 900 years ago.  There are also rooms under the ground called Kivas. These were probably used for religous ceremonies.  It was hard to visualize how they worked until we went to see a different settlement called Spruce Tree House. 

After visiting Cliff Palace, you then have to climb more slippery, uneven stairs and 3 10 feet ladders!  I do not like ladders at all, but the whole effort was worth climbing even scarier ladders if I had to!

Alan and I in a Kiva

Alan and I then went to see Spruce Tree House, which is a bit misleading, as it is not in a tree and not a single house, but another settlement!  The Rangers there have reconstructed a Kiva and Alan and I climbed the ladder through the tiny whole in the roof to get to the floor.  It was beautiful, if a bit claustrophobic!

Spruce Tree House, the ladder goes to a Kiva

view from the bottom of the Kiva's ladder!

We asked about how the original inhabitants got in and out of their dwelling place and the Ranger told us they had hand and footholds all the way up.  In essence, they rock climbed to get in and out of their homes.  Their doors started 2 feet above the floor, possibly to keep babies and toddlers from toppling out. But once they were old enough, they had to rock climb in and out themselves!  I cannot imagine telling my 16 month old grandson now that he can walk, he will have to start climbing without help! 

I will end this now with a saying I noticed in a shop window in Salina, Arizona

"Important parts of every journey are when we stay still"