Lomography

Mesa Verde National Park
written by day3hugger on July 14th, 2009 , 8 comments (3 votes)

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From A.D. 600 to A.D. 1300, this place was the home of the ancestral Pueblo people, who lived here for over 700 years. Now, it is a National Park that offers great insight into the lives of these people and the way their community functioned. Mesa Verde protects over 4,000 archeological sites, including many hiking trails and over 600 cliff dwellings. These amazing dwellings are nowadays very well preserved structures under rocks. It is amazing to imagine that anyone could have lived here under such harsh weather conditions and with only basic things.

There are many self guided trails that you can explore on your own. There are also some ranger guided tours that are very useful. If you visit, do take one of these tours which cost only $ 5. They are very interesting and offer in-depth information on how these people used to live and why they did things that way. As the ranger talks, you realize everything these people did made sense. These people were very smart, and what’s more important, they worked together as a team to make life easier.

The park is open year round, but unfortunately, they close some parts of the park during some seasons, so check out before visiting to see what sites you want to visit. Even if you go in the winter, you’ll have a great time and will be able to see most of the park. To get to most of the dwellings, visitors have to climb stairs and squeeze through narrow passages, just like the ancestral people used to do. This is a different and exciting experience no one should miss.