Dietz Summer Road Trip

This morning we woke up for our first full day at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. It has also been a week now since we left on our journey. We woke up with the intentions of cooking our first breakfast at camp, however no sooner did we set up the stove and all the necessary items, a little rain storm moved in. So we settled on Granola bars again this morning. We were outside just long enough for the camper across the street to recognize John’s Seton Hill University shirt he was wearing and harassed him for “Isn’t that an all girls school??”. We had tour tickets for 2 Ranger guided Cliff Dwelling tours. They are both about 45 minutes across the park from Morefield Campground. We got ready and headed over there.

Our first tour was at 10am at Cliff Palace. Cliff Palace is the largest of the dwellings, and probably the most iconic. You can clearly see the dwelling from a little overlook. However, we got to go right in there and get a better look with the Ranger guided Tour. You have to climb some ladders but nothing too outrageous. These cliff dwellings are from Ancestral Pueblo People dating far back as 620 c. e. with the most recent being 1100-1300 c.e. The people moved off of the Mesa top into the dwellings to make more room for growing crops above. Thousands of people would live in the cliffs, with 100-150 occupying Cliff Palace. They also had areas called “Kivas”. Kivas are little under ground covered rooms that they used for religious purposes, entertaining, and a family room… basically where The Pueblos gathered around and watched the Steelers game every Sunday. The tour lasted about an hour and we got some pretty sweet pictures.

After the Cliff Palace Tour we were hungry so we just hit up the Restaurant at the park in the same area. Afterward we walked through the little museum where they had a bit of everything. It was quaint. We were next to Spruce Tree House, which is another dwelling tour but which is self-guided. So we walked down there and got to go into one of the Kivas.

It was only about 1:30pm and our next tour of Balcony House didn’t start until 5pm. Right near the Spruce Tree house is a 2.5 mile trail called “Petroglyph Trail”. So we thought we would check it out, compare the petroglyphs to the ones we saw in NM and get a little exercise. The trail took you over rocks, through tight passes, and some other rather technical situations that we were prepared for. We saw a few lizards on the trail, this one we nicknamed “Thin Lizzy”.

We also saw a lot of Juniper Trees and Yucca plants. Like this one here:

There were some cool views of the park, but no petroglyphs! It wasn’t until about 1.5 miles in did you see the petroglyph area. It was a nice trail, not crowded. We finished the hike and headed back to the car. We had a 30 minute drive back around to Balcony House so we thought we would just hang out there until our next tour. Here are some pictures from today’s hike:

We did experience some shortness of breath on the hike today due to the higher altitude. Or that is at least that’s is what we told ourselves! After refilling our water we headed to the Balcony House area and had 45 minutes to kill. We happened to park right in front of a trash can and we played a game called “Are you smarter than a bear?” As we watched people try to open the safety locked trash can. Just as we started lining up for the tour it started to thunder and a few rain drops. We were afraid they would cancel the tour but oh no. Our ranger, whose name was “Bennett Dear”, I mean if this guy wasn’t born to be a ranger than I don’t know who is, was determined to give us the full tour experience. This one did require going up and down some steep ladders, tight spaces, and crawling through a 3 foot wide space to get out of the other end. It was also an hour long and although balcony house is not visible from any sort of viewing area, you get to walk around around in it when you take the tour. There was a ledge that we kept a safe distance from. The tour wrapped up, and the storm seemed to miss us. We noticed that because  we are so high up, and there is relatively nothing obstructing your view, you can actually see the rain clouds. We got a picture of a Raven (or Crow?) with the rain cloud in the background. How every Edgar Allen Poe.

Despite the possible threat of rain, we were determined to finally cook our first dinner via campfire. We headed into town and went to the grocery store. We purchased several items and it was dry when we came back to camp. Hotdogs, Mountain Pies, and Smores were on the Menu at Camp Dietz. And it was delicious!! We were in bed by 10:30pm. Just as we were starting to fall asleep Danielle elbows John.

“Wake up. Do you hear that? I think its a bear”. It sounded like the nasally breath of a bear searching for food, or so it seemed. We sat there perfectly still and after listening a little more carefully we realized it was just our neighbor snoring. If he was sleeping that well then so should we, so we fell back asleep and had probably the best nights sleep since we have been camping.
  
Forgot to mention there are deer everywhere. This guy has the right idea.