Today we woke late in the morning in our newly-repaired Barbarian Invader. Having air conditioning was joyous. We took our time with coffee and breakfast before heading over to extend our RV space reservation for the next two days as directed by Sherwin, the local enforcement entity for dummies like us who set up our trailers in the wrong spot.
When we walked into the office to take care of our RV space rent, we were told that we had unfortunately selected to set up our trailer in a spot that was reserved for the the season and we would have to decamp, move and re-setup our RV in an adjacent spot. We went back to our spot and, after much heated conversation and cursing, had moved over into the actual spot we were assigned.
We finished by early afternoon and decided to spend the rest of the day exploring. Fortunately, we are set up only about 10 miles from Mesa Verde National Park and we elected to go there for a visit. From our spot in Tawaoc we got back on US-160 for the trip to the park. Our trailer is set up at an altitude of about 6000 feet but it is a steady climb to the park and, after passing free through the gate due to our federal access pass, started an even steeper climb into the sights at over 8000 feet.
Anasazi folks lived here until about 1300 when they departed from the area for reasons unknown. They left behind many sophisticated cliff dwellings built in enormous recesses in the rock formations. They had very thick roof structures – sometimes 100 feet or more of solid sandstone. These are not merely little mud huts here and there. Large, complex, multi-story structures can be seen from numerous viewpoints along the canyon edges. Additionally, those wishing to hike into these complexes at high altitude in very warm temperatures can do so if they make arrangements with the park’s Rangers who lead tours along quite frightening cliffs and into the structures themselves. Since it was hot and the tours were packed with tourists and the place is located where there is scant amounts of oxygen, we declined on the hikes. Nevertheless, there are many amazing sights here and we drove around in the park, amazed by the extraordinary structures these allegedly primitive people built into the landscape.
On our way out of the park we stopped at the visitor center to pick up some postcards to post on the wall of our trailer. We then took a long way home to our trailer at the casino. It is wonderful to have air conditioning again because it is quite hot here. The properly prepared neighbor in our previous space number 38 had arrived, towed by the mechanic who did our repairs yesterday. Strange coincidence, that.
We took a few pictures on the road to and in the park and you can see them if you click here