Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, USA
Mesa Verde National Park protects thousands of archaeological sites, including hundreds of cliff dwellings.
Mesa Verde National Park: Mesa Verde, Colorado, USA
One of the viewpoints while going up to the famous sites, and spanning view from left to right.
Looking back at the driving way in the park.
Mesa Verde National Park is different from other national parks is that it is not so much about the natural scenes but the remains of ancient homes and towns.
This is the first ancient site that I encountered in the park.
Walking to nearby sites.
A water reservoir
Spanning view left to right
Drive to Spruce Tree House
Spanning view from left to right
A closer view
A spanning valley view while driving to the next site.
This is the earliest house style.
New houses are built on top of the earlier house site. Here it shows three different villages built on top of earlier ones.
The exhibits continue at inside the protective housing.
Drove to the next site
Inside this long cliff, many cliff dwellings can be seen. From 1225, the people started to move from mesa top villages into cliff housing, and then the final move to the states of Arizona and New Mexico. The researchers still have not agreed on why they had to move to the southern states.
A view of the park while driving to the other side of the park.
The information center at Step House Trail.
The trail to Step House is about a one-mile round trip. This is the only cliff house the visitors can go inside.
Spanning view of the mountain on the opposite side of the trail.
The trail.
The Step House.
Done with the cliff house, keep on the trail.
Looking back down, another group of people is coming for the cliff house.
Done with the Step House trail and start with a new 2.5 miles trail nearby with four ancient sites.
The first site: an early home.
To the second site: a village.
To the third site: a developed village.
To the fourth site: a change in style.
Another mile trail that is nearby to the Long House (a cliff housing) overlook.
Spanning view of the Long House area.
The Long House cliff house.
Walking back to the parking lot.
