Cliff Dwellings at Mesa Verde

250 miles on Sunday through New Mexico & into Colorado. A lot of the road goes through tribal land, a mostly desert landscape dotted with piñon, juniper, and red rock outcroppings. Everything is dry, except for the green trees and fields that blossom around the banks of rivers & streams.

The area around Mesa Verde is much greener (and cooler). Found a great wooded campsite in the park campground, then drove the long, winding road up to the top of Chapin Mesa. The mesa top gets hit by lightning pretty regularly, and we drove through a couple of places where gray, scorched trees were standing above the vegetation growing back.

We visited a couple of cliff dwellings: Spruce Tree House & then a guided tour at Cliff Palace. The climb up from Cliff Palace was 100 vertical feet up wooden ladders & narrow stone steps. Along the way, you could see the toe- and hand-holds carved by the ancestral Pueblo, who took the hard way up. The ruins are really breathtaking, and they're set into a spectacular landscape.

Lots of wildlife here: on the way back to our site we saw wild horses, elk, and lots of deer. Finished the night off with a fire and s'mores.