A Cliff Side Palace

Saturday, May 14th – Cortez, Colorado to Mesa Verde National Park to Hovenweep National Monument, Utah – Day 93 

 We woke up and were especially quiet to not piss off our overly sensitive neighbour. We packed up and were out just after ten. We did take some time to sit and look at the canyon beside our campsite. It was beautiful. The canyon seemed to lead to the mountains in the distance. The campsite was part of the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument. 

 Our plan was to go to Mesa Verde National Park to see indigenous cave dwellings. On our way out from the campsite we passed Sand Pueblo. This was also a part of the National Monument. The community was built alongside the canyon. This would have been a larger central community that would be a hub for smaller communities in the area. Most of the structures had been reduced to piles of stone but you could see the outline of their community with a wall along the outside and square rooms inside the wall. Information signs showed you what it would have looked like. The kilometre hike was well worth the effort to get a picture of the past. 

 We proceeded to Mesa Verde, passing through Cortez again. When we entered the park, we received maps and junior ranger activities. We also found out that the cave structures were a 45-minute drive into the park which wasn’t ideal, but what can you do. We also had to leave our trailer at the front gate to make the drive. The drive was scenic. The kids loved the short tunnel. We went up and had to follow a ridge along the outside of the mountains which gave some fantastic views of Colorado to the north and Arizona to the south. 

We stopped at the gift shop in the park to fill water bottles and purchase a birthday gift for Gen. We had another 20-minute drive to our first stop. We were investigating Spruce Tree House and the Chapin Mesa Archeological museum. John wasn’t listening. He jumped the fence and sat under a tree working on his junior ranger book. I asked him to come back because junior rangers stay on trails, but he wouldn’t listen. Everyone else went to the washroom and I turn around and John is gone. I hop the fence and start looking for him, yelling “John” and a man at the bottom of the hill says, “He’s here”. I grabbed the girls who had returned, and we went to pick John up. John had a timeout while we looked at the buildings built under a rock overhang. Unfortunately, you couldn’t access the museum or the trail to Spruce Tree House so all we could do is look. 

 Our next stop was the Mesa Top loop which had multiple lookouts, older ruins and more well-preserved buildings. The first stop was to see a pit house from 550-750 AD. The pit houses were dug a metre into the ground and logs were used to hold up a roof of timber and covered in a mud mixture. The fireplaces had chimneys and heat deflectors and it’s always nice to see ancient HVAC (Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning). 

 The worst part of this day was all the stopping and getting out then getting back in. It’s terrible with the kids. John wants to stay in the car and that’s fine when we are within sight. When we need to go on a small walk, the process of getting him out and walking begins. Normally he is great but ask him to start again and again and again and it is a slog. We got out at Navajo Canyon View (John stays in car) and Square Tower House (John walks). The small loop of pit houses John was carried. The village stop we ate lunch, so he was in (he didn’t make it around the rest of the site). Sun Point View he came and got to use the stationary binoculars (no fee) and fight with his sisters. At the Sun Temple, he walked around the building and got to see the Cliff Palace at the viewpoint beside it. 

 The Cliff Palace and the Spruce Tree House were interesting places. Stone buildings, multiple stories were built under cliff overhangs. The bricks were made of sandstone with a mud and water mortar between them. It’s a shame we couldn’t go near them, but you need a ranger led hike which wasn’t available to us. In one canyon there would be multiple large communities and you could see medium sized cracks in the cliff with walls in place that would probably have been a cool bachelor pad. 

 At this point, everyone was being rewarded for making it through the day with some screen time. Mom started the drive out of Mesa Verde and Dad is reading about the Raptors. We picked up the trailer and started towards our next campsite. The Ranger at Canyons of the Ancients had recommended free camping near Hovenweep National Monument, Gen jumped on Dyrt (a free camping app) and found a spot. We were stopped by cows on the road twice. Just after we crossed into Utah, we turned down a well-maintained dirt road to a large dirt lot with a single fire pit. There was also a sizable canyon just beyond which was amazing. 

Gen and I cooked, cleaned, organized, and had the kids ready for bed. I finally convinced Gen to leave the trailer and join me on the rocky rim of the canyon. The moon was large so there was enough light to see the canyon. You could only hear the crickets. We hung out celebrating Gen’s upcoming birthday.