Mesa Verde & Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Parks

7/13 Colorado

Day 13

Leaving Dead Horse State Park is the best feeling ever! No more fighting bugs 24 hours a day. At least we hope. Neither of us have been to Mesa Verde, and we really hope it doesn't have the bug population of Arches and Canyonlands. The drive to Mesa Verde is about 4.5hr from Dead Horse, and we could not leave until shortly after 9:00am due to an oil change and checking on a book order in Moab. Unfortunately Zach did not get his books that we have been looking for for a week.
Leaving Moab we were looking at the map, and noticed that only a short twenty miles out of our way was the Four Corners Monument, on the borders of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. We definitely could not pass up an opportunity like this, and we drove that direction. Upon arrival we discovered that Four Corners is actually located on the north eastern edge of Arizona's Navajo Indian reservation. Of course the Indians monopolize on this, charging an entrance fee, and selling all manner of Indian knick knacks around the Four Corners sight.
After spending about 15 minutes being in four places at once we continued on towards Mesa Verde National Park. Having only a few hours in the afternoon to explore Mesa Verde turned out to be perfect. We got settled in at the campground which has free showers! With free showers we don't even need a campsite! Up until now we have been paying $2 for 8 minute showers where we can get them. This free showering thing is unheard of.
Visiting the visitors center we purchased tickets to do the "Balcony House" tour, which is supposedly the most adventurous of the options. Our other main option would have been to take the 90 minute tour of "The Palace", a much larger cliff structure. Mesa Verde was not quite what I expected, as almost every cliff along the length of the park has some kind of dwelling built into it, hundreds of feet above the valley floor. The Pueblo Indians built these homes in the cliff faces where natural springs exited the rock face. They also planted crops on top of the cliffs, and used small carved holes in the rock as hand and toe holds to climb between the two.
The tour was led by a young lady who was very professional and seemed to have more than the required education for a ranger her age. She led us down a steep flight of steps to the base of a 32ft tall wood ladder leading up into the cliff dwelling, it was almost comedic watching some of the tourists struggling with the ladder even after being properly warned this was an adventure! Once at the top we proceeded through a small gap and. Up another short ladder behind the first building. Once up the ladder the area immediately opened up into a courtyard with several rooms and a floor to cave ceiling wall splitting the whole dwelling in two. This first area turned out to be primarily for storage and food preparation. This area also had the only surviving balcony in the park. Hence the name Balcony House.
Leaving the first area, again through a small gap behind the second set of buildings, we passed the animal storage area. Turkeys. The second courtyard was much larger, and we immediately realized this was where the people spent most of their time. This area had tall three story sleeping structures, and two large pits called Kivas for fires, and ceremony. The ceiling of this part of the cave was burned a dark black from the fires, and in a few places we could see a faint outline of where fallen structures had attached to the ceiling.
Leaving this second area was the most adventurous, and entertaining. The only way out was through a twelve foot long 18 inch wide tunnel. This of course required crawling on your hands and knees, getting a little claustrophobic and watching the large tourists try to fit. I even had to remove the camelpack I was wearing to squeeze through. After exiting the tunnel all that was left was a quick ascent up a series of chains and notches cut in the cliff wall. This was nothing compared to Mooney Falls in Havasupai.
Finishing the tour at about 5:00 we decided to do a few scenic overlooks, and stop and see the pit houses, which are just what they sound like, pits. This day was relatively hike free, and we really only went a total of a mile.

Day 14

Leaving Mesa Verde this morning after taking another shower and eating cereal with real milk, we headed towards a big question mark on our Itinerary. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.
Our drive took us through some of the most beautiful country ever! The Colorado Rocky Mountains. I finally understand why my friends Brain and Tannah decided to move out here. The drive took us up to about 11000ft and snow capped mountains still towered above us. The scene was stunning, until it became unbelievable, as we rounded a corner, shortly before we would start descending, the most beautiful little lake came into view. And the view was something else, trees, clear water, snowy mountains and surprisingly few people. I could just spend the rest of my vacation here. This little lake also signified the end of the desert! Finally trees, water and mountains.
Believe it our not Trout lake was the best part of the day. Black Canyon of the Gunnison was underwhelming to say the least, and stands as another "black" mark on Bill Clintons resume in my opinion, as he was the one who made it a National Park in 1999. Pretty much the park only had two features, tall black cliffs, and a dirty river. We did see some climbing equipment on one of the cliffs, but no climber. Disappointing. The only real excitement I got out of the park was seeing an endangered Rubber Boa. I'll add that to the animals list, which I'll be updating shortly.
In other news, I learned that if you count the number of cricket chirps in 15 seconds, and add 37 you get the current air temperature in F°. Now that's fun stuff!

MILEAGE:

Driving-

This Trip:393
Total:1958

Walking-

This Trip: 2 (massive hiking this time)
Total: 106.5