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| Cliff Palace Panorama |
Mesa Verde has a very special place in my heart. I first visited the park along side my dad when I was six and it was here that I first fell in love with the ruins left behind by the Ancestral Puebloans. That fascination has grown into countless return trips to the Four Corners area and even a couple books co-authored with my dad. Despite the numerous trips to the area, I hadn't returned to Mesa Verde until this past October, nearly 25 years later. I have to admit, when planning my return trip, I was worried that my childhood memories would have become over exaggerated and park wouldn't live up to my expectations.
I'm happy to report that those concerns were quickly alleviated. Mesa Verde was just as incredible, if not more so, as I remembered. The park protects nearly 600 individual cliff dwellings, the largest of which is Cliff Palace, also believed to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America. This city in a cliff is composed of over 150 identified rooms and 23 kivas.
The ruins are accessible only on Ranger guided tours, but for $3/person, the one hour tours are an absolute bargain. The park service advertises the tour as "strenuous" but don't be scared away, the tour was a breeze, even after hiking the entire day before.
This panorama image was taken while I was waiting for the Ranger to start my tour. I removed most of the people from the previous tour group from the image, but left a few on the right side to provide a sense of scale and show just how enormous Cliff Palace is. I wish I could have gotten down there on my own and spent as much time as I wanted shooting among the ruins, but I took full advantage of the time I had down there (and I think I went over my 1 hour limit, but the Ranger was nice and didn't push too hard to get me to leave) so I have plenty of images to share in the coming days.
I'm happy to report that those concerns were quickly alleviated. Mesa Verde was just as incredible, if not more so, as I remembered. The park protects nearly 600 individual cliff dwellings, the largest of which is Cliff Palace, also believed to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America. This city in a cliff is composed of over 150 identified rooms and 23 kivas.
The ruins are accessible only on Ranger guided tours, but for $3/person, the one hour tours are an absolute bargain. The park service advertises the tour as "strenuous" but don't be scared away, the tour was a breeze, even after hiking the entire day before.
This panorama image was taken while I was waiting for the Ranger to start my tour. I removed most of the people from the previous tour group from the image, but left a few on the right side to provide a sense of scale and show just how enormous Cliff Palace is. I wish I could have gotten down there on my own and spent as much time as I wanted shooting among the ruins, but I took full advantage of the time I had down there (and I think I went over my 1 hour limit, but the Ranger was nice and didn't push too hard to get me to leave) so I have plenty of images to share in the coming days.
