Day 15 - Mesa Verde National Park

We took a tour today to Mesa Verde National Park, home of the Ancient Pueblo peoples.  It's a good thing we trust our bus driver 'cause these were some winding roads! I've continued to wear my motion sickness patch so I did o.k.  We had a step-on guide who was great.

This is called a Pithouse.  The Pueblo people would sink posts and build up from the pit. The archeologists have found hundreds of these  remains.

This is a picture of a village that the Pueblo people started building when they quit building the Pithouse. Wayne took this picture from across the valley. This village was called Spruce Tree House. It was named by two local ranchers who discovered it in 1888 while looking for stray cattle. There was a large tree they thought was a spruce leaning toward the structures. There are no spruce trees in the area but the name stuck.

We walked down a 1/4 mile paved path to get to Spruce Tree House. We were allowed to get up close and personal.  The trees that were used for support are still there! Most of the people in this picture are in our group. Oh, the walk back was uphill. And, we were at an altitude of about 8,800. So, we were huffing and puffing and taking many rest stops!