Today was the first day that we spent the whole day at one place. I had originally planned to go to Hovenweep National Monument on the way to Blanding, but we stayed at Mesa Verde for a bit too long. Plus the weather was poor – it started raining here and there and we thought it’d be best just to hang out in Mesa Verde and explore the park some more until about 5:30pm.
We stopped at all of the road stops, and we decided to not do a ranger tour (one hour long tour of either Cliff Palace or Balcony House). And the road to Wildhorse Mesa was closed (it closed on Labor Day). The weather did not really cooperate. It went from overcast to rainy. And we did hear one deep rumble of thunder in the distance. The rain wasn’t so bad. It was cold and refreshing.
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Coal seam right along the road.
View from “Geological outlook” or whatever it was called.
The Spruce Tree House as seen from the top of the trail.
The hike to Spruce Tree House was only like 3/4 mile. It was steep but well worth it.
Looking at Cliff Palace from a distance. It started raining right then and there.
I think this one was my favorite aside from Cliff Palace. This is Square Tower House. Amazing that they built 4 floors up to the canyon wall.
Some more advanced pithouses.
Can you spot the ruin?
There it is…
Awesome Navajo Canyon.
The canyon in this particular section was lined with ruins from the early 1000’s, or maybe 900’s? I don’t remember.
The Cliff Palace.
Balcony House seen from a distance. This viewspot was accessed by a 1.2mile round trip trail. Otherwise, you couldn’t really see the ruin. It was misleading in the parking lot. Everyone took out their cameras and you couldn’t even see it because you’re standing over the same cliff.
The sun was finally coming through a little bit of the clouds. This only lasted about a minute before it went back to being one of those shades of gray.
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