Mesa Verde. June 7

 What a day!  Being a Monday there were very few visitors. I can’t imagine how busy it must be in summer. 

First we decided to go down a 1mile hike to a small cliff dwelling. 100feet elevation supposedly easy. Well ok. We did it. The construction of the simple rooms was well engineered. I even climbed a reproduction ladder to the second level. We spoke with the ranger on site about the ancient Pueblo  turns out the were farmer and supplemented diet with hunting  in addition, we learned that feral horses have pushed a lot of the larger wild life out  th park even tried to reintroduce big horn sheep , but it didn’t work because the horses were aggressive and did not allow access to water sources .

We walked a 5 mile Wetherill loop and rode the Chaplin loop with a Pueblo Indian pod cast that described each stop.  The walk/hike offered amazing landscapes and overlooks of cliff dwellings as well as several archeological dig sites of dwellings. However the last 2 miles were just a hot stressful hike up hill.  It was obvious we weren’t in shape for the heat or endurance.  I would not have changed a thing for all we were able to see and learn first hand.






































































Indians. They were mostly farmers but also hunted elk, deer, turkey and other small creatures. The aggressive feral horses in the park have chased away elk, deer, and mountain goats these days. Evidentially, there is not much water in the cliffs and canyons and these horses force all others away from the little water that there is. Horses and now some cattle have broken down fences that had kept them on the Ute reservation

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