"Walk a mile in their moccasins...I dare... " a Mesa Verde National Park Travel Page by KiKitC

Mesa Verde National Park is breath-taking, curious and amazing. Archeological sites in this area date some dwellings within the park at 750 AD, and as late as 1300 AD. There is much mystery here, not only relative to WHY the inhabitants took to building in the cliff's alcoves...but as much as to why a mass exodus occurred from these ancestral lands almost 800 years ago.

The ancestral Puebloan people inhabited this area for centuries, building villages on the mesas and farming the lands. Around 1200 AD, these remarkable cliff dwellings began construction. Did they begin to build here, to use every piece of mesa top to farm for the great masses that now lived here? Life flourished in these dwellings, as the mesa tops were farmed and food stored in these cool, dry canyons.

Or did they build here for protection from enemies or threats from the mesa top? To protect the precious springs of fresh water, which helped form these alcoves?

Life flourished so, that this valley has 4,000 known dwelling ruins within it's rocks. Just drive around the mesa top, and look down in the cliffs. They are scattered everywhere, in little alcoves in the cliff side...

We weren't able to exploe as deeply into the Canyons of the Ancients as we wanted to. Our off-road vehicle was down, and we couldn't afford to break the tow vehicle. So, we visited Mesa Verde, and this visit will last in my memory forever.

There are some structures you can view or even visit just with your park entrance fee. TAKE the TOURS of Balcony House and Cliff Palace. The expertise of the Rangers and the absolute awe of these structures are worth it.