Since we ran out of daylight yesterday a return trip to Mesa Verde National Park was the plan for today. The park entrance is at 7,000 feet elevation and most of the park's sites are at 7,000 feet elevation. In between, you have to climb over an 8,600 ridge with some nice switchbacks and overlook pull-outs. Like most parks, it's a good idea to just take it slow and take in all of the sights.
I have no idea what the geologic formation below is called, but it looked like a huge rock terrace wall. The fractured rock seemed to be stacked nearly vertically and looked to be back-filled with dirt and rubble.
Yesterday, the sun was setting as we got to Far View House and this needed to be explored. There were six sites in close proximity, all with the same kind of architecture. Each had circular kivas surrounded by small square or rectangular rooms. The kivas were once thought to be mainly ceremonial, but they now suspect they were really equivalent to today's living room, dining room, kitchen combination. Since they were the only room with a fire, I bet they slept in the kiva whenever it was cold as well.
Pipe Shrine House is in the foreground. Far View House is above in the distance.
Far View House, excavated in 1916, had more than 50 rooms and dated to 1000 A.D.
Pipe Shrine House was excavated 6 years after Far View House and contained about 20 rooms.
Pipe Shrine House was named for the decorated smoking pipes found in the kiva during excavation.
Unlike the other ruins, Coyote Village allowed closer inspection.
Coyote Village wasn't excavated until 1968 and contains about 30 ground floor rooms.
40 to 50 people probably occupied Coyote Village in 1000 A.D.
Far View Tower had 16 small, one-story rooms, 3 kivas, and a round tower. From the amount of rubble around the tower, they believe the tower once stood as high as the surrounding trees.
We drove the Mesa Top Loop which had more stops than we could possibly see with the time we had left before sunset (bad planning on my part), so some sites did not get a lot of scrutiny.
Oak Tree House in Fewkes Canyon from the Sun Point View.
Pithouses preceded the cliff dwellings, built around 550 A.D.
Mesa Top Loop takes you to an overlook where you can see Square Tower House below (undergoing preservation work). It has eight kivas and at least 60 rooms.
I set up to capture Cliff Palace at sunset from across the canyon. This vantage point allowed us to see a little deeper into the structure and we were able to see some buildings not visible from the overlook yesterday. The distance and the lighting, however, left me a little disappointed with today's pictures.
Cliff Palace could be seen from the overlook at Sun Temple on the Mesa Top Loop.
The ruins were in ruins by the 1800s. The National Park Service restored it to its current height and stature.
It was only 5:30, but the sun was leaving the canyon and taking its warmth with it.
The moon had risen above the mesa.
The sun was sinking fast...
...leaving a warm glow.
We rushed to the rise where we watched the moon peak behind the little tree the day before. It was pretty dark, but David was able to spot some deer crossing over the ridge.
The moon graced us with its presence...
...and quickly dominated the camera's sensors.
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