Cortez to Monument Valley

Day 12 Mesa Verde to Monument Valley - 221 miles

First thing this morning we drove to Mesa Verde National Park which was created in 1906 to preserve the archeological heritage of the Ancestral Pueblo people, both atop the mesas and in the cliff dwellings below.  The park includes over 4,500 archeological sites - only 600 are cliff dwellings.

About AD 550, long before Europeans explored North America, some of the people living in the Four Corners region decided to move onto the Mesa Verde.  For over 700 years these people and their descendants lived and flourished here, eventually building elaborate stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of canyon walls.  In the late 1200s in the span of a generation or two, they left their homes and moved away. 

Mesa Verde National Park has easy access and the Visitors Centres offer information on all aspects of the Park. Drove a loop and saw Pit House, FarView Sites (mesa-top farming community - lived here prior to cliff dwelling), different cliff dwelling sites including Spruce Tree House - unbelievable how they built these homes.

View from the Mesa Verde National Park entrance

Driving in the National Park when it started snowing

Had to abandon Park Point Overlook on our way up due to snow but revisited on way back

Spruce Canyon Gorge

A model of a Cliff Dwellers home exhibited in the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum

Spruce Tree House - the third largest cliff dwelling

Square Tower House

Far View Sites - mesa top farming community with 5 villages and a reservoir - the two storey round tower was built approx AD 1200

Left the National Park and drove back to Cortez intending to fill up with fuel however only able to retrieve half a tank as Gas Station ran out of gas (fuel).  Took Highway 160W to Four Corners - Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah junction.  Bit of a rip off as charge an entrance fee plus heaps of stall owners ready to take your money once inside.  Crossed into Arizona where the countryside changed to flat plains flanked by huge monoliths and buttes.  Crossed into Utah and settled for the night in Gouldings Campground at Monumental Valley with a brilliant sight of the sun shining on the Rocks.

The junction of four States - Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah

Heading towards Monument Valley

Monument Valley

Our RV park at Gouldings Campground, Monument Valley