Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

June 20, on the road to Mesa Verde National Park

On the road to Mesa Verde, we pause in Durango, whose name resonates in the history of the Far West and the railroad. Obviously, it's not easy to park the RV in town and we are not too many two to complete the operation.
We reach Mesa Verde in the late morning. No problem for a site at the park campground and we choose a beautiful location, surrounded by nature. Campsites in national parks are generally less well equipped than RV Parks commercial sites but they are much better insulated and always in wonderful places. We are pleased to have our bicycles as the campground covers a large area and our site is one mile from the office and commodities: shower, laundry, shop ...
The campground is far from the archaeological sites that we will visit the next day but several hiking trails leave from the area, allowing us to make a nice walk on the side of the plate along a path that follows what was once the road access to the park.

June 22, the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde is more than 6,500 feet above the sea and we're surprised early in the morning, with temperatures near 0°C. This does not prevent us to take our breakfast out: we do not like to stay inside the vehicle.

A 30 miles road in the park leads us to the Chapin Mesa Museum, our first stop. After a quick tour of Spruce Tree House, we hike the Petroglyph Point Trail to reach these petroglyphs, some of which have not yet delivered their secret.

Later in afternoon, we join a tour at Cliff Palace (watch out, reservation required at the Visitor Center).
Throughout the day, we are particularly struck by the sheer number of archaeological sites that can be found on the cliffs of the mesa. Why the Anasazi Indians have suddenly abandoned in the early 14th century, these cliff dwellings that their ancestors gave so hard to build? It seems that archaeologists have not yet cleared up this mystery.

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