Cliff Palace. The largest Cliff dwelling in the world. It is believed that at least 24 families shared this site.
Mesa Verde National Park, I highly recommend it! This area wowed all of us today and it quickly became obvious that the few hours we had allotted was nowhere near enough time. The ancient Puebloans, or Anasazi, lived in the area over 700 years, from roughly 550 to 1300 AD. At it’s peak around 1200, approximately 40,000 people lived in the area. That’s more than today’s population in the county.
There are hundreds of Cliff structures in the park and thousands of various ruins. We didn’t know there were anywhere near that many. The people built on top the Mesa for hundreds of years before moving to building in the cliffs in 12th and 13th centuries. These sites were abandoned shortly after for unknown reasons that are still debated today.That’s Cliff Palace from a distance. Many of these ruins are quite high in the cliffs and the inhabitants carved hand and foot holds in the sandstone to climb to the top where they farmed corn, beans, and squash.And it’s not just the ruins that are amazing. The scale and beauty of this landscape just adds to the experience.The height of this Mesa is stunning. That’s the Rockies we came through in the distance.
Our day started out quite cool at 43 degrees! We weren’t expecting temps that low. Anyway, after packing up tents and gear, we had a beautiful morning ride down the San Juan Skyway again. This time running it north to south.
We ran pretty hard today and the heat and sun were pretty intense at Mesa Verde. After fuel and dinner. We dropped down into New Mexico for the night. Tomorrow we start heading back east to the heat and humidity.
TigerTracks 
It looks amazing!!
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Mesa Verde is on my hit list for sure! Glad you guys are having a great time!
Warren
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