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Mesa Verde National Park

Introduction Montezuma Valley Overlook Park Point Spruce Tree House Spruce Canyon
Square Tower House Pit House Ruins (700-950AD) Sunset House (From Sun Point) Cliff Palace Related Links

MesaVerde.jpg
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Introduction

When I first visited the San Antonio Missions, it gave be an idea what life was like before any modern conveniences. And I can't even cope when the power goes out, lol.

Anyway, the missions take you back around 400 years. Mesa Verde National Park steps this up a little, with Anasazi stone cliff dwellings dating back a thousand years, and Pueblo pit dwellings that date back 1500 years. Not only didn't they have any modern conveniences, but they didn't even have conveniences...

It's difficult to think how the Anasazi built and survived in these places, though the climate was probably much different 1,000 years ago. More odd, is that they just "disappeared" within a generation or two.

Aliens. It had to be aliens.

Mesa Verde National Park Map
Cropped map of the park. Click on the map for a larger view. This map was downloaded from the NPS site.
One of my biggest regrets about Mesa Verde National Park, is I have no picture of the entrance sign. When I first visted in 1997, pictures of the entrance sign wasn't a priority. Now, they're a must. I even passed by the park in 2006, but was so behind schedule that I didn't stop in. sigh. Yes, I know I could just find one on the web, but that would be cheating...

Montezuma Valley Overlook
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Park Point
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Spruce Tree House
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Spruce Canyon
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Square Tower House
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Pit House Ruins (700-950AD)
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Sunset House (From Sun Point)
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Cliff Palace
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Related Links

US-160 (Colorado, Wolf Creek Pass)
US-160 Link

I drove US-160 from I-25 to the Four Corners. It's a nice drive, with several major attractions along the way, such as Great Sand Dunes and Mesa Verde National Parks, and a place you can stand on four states at one time.

This page only has images from Colorado.
Colorado / 29 Images. Visited Sep 1997.

Mesa Verde Trip Report: Sep 1997.

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