Mesa Verde National Park

We had some beautiful drives through Colorado Rockies by Vail, Breckinridge, Telluride, and quaint Victorian mining towns over our last two stops.
Our last stop was visiting Mesa Verde and learning about the pueblo people farming the land on this cuesta, that slopes to the South for perfect farming. They know people started farming and living here around 500 AD in houses built on the Mesa. Around 1200s there were 40,000 people living in the area because there was a widespread drought and resources were scarce and that is when they started building the cliff dwellings to live in, possibly for safety and defense. We did a ranger led tour of Cliff Palace, and climbed up similar ladders to what they would have used. The engineering they did for heating and cooling the houses was still clear to see.Read more