NM Vignettes - Mesa Verde, Colorado

One hundred steps, most of them cleft from the rock face, and four ten-foot ladders, made me wish my ancestors had been mountain goats instead of Swedes.


David and I had more rest stops than anyone else and our position at the tail end of the group was secure, but at least the ranger didn't have to call for the helicopter. We got high fives when we finally managed to stumble back on the bus, and even though we may not walk again for hours, it was worth it to see The Cliff Palace.

This ancient four story Pueblo, the largest in North America, had about a hundred and fifty rooms and served as many as a thousand people. Their engineering prowess is impressive. Water for crops came from cisterns, but their drinking water came from "seeps" which are tiny creeks that are formed by water that seeps through the porous rock above.

When our guide told us it was time to leave, my legs could barely carry me through the cracks in the cliffs up the worn stone steps. I wasn't sure I would be able ever to get to the top. But, as I put my hands in the shallow handholds the ancient Pueblo people had etched into the rock thousands of years ago, I felt a kinship with them I hadn't felt before.

Those shallow handholds, worn smooth by the touch of hundreds of hands over  thousands of years, let me know I would make it. Just as these ancient people had done, I would place my hands where they had placed theirs, take a deep breath, and get to the top after all.

Practicalities -
Mea Verde, Colorado, is close to the border, so it is easy to include a stop there when exploring New Mexico.

You can only visit the Cliff Palace with a guide and tickets must be purchased in advance at one of the ranger stations. There are bathrooms available before you begin your tour, but you should carry plenty of water with you.

By the way, when you look at these dwellings perched on the cliffs, you may wonder how children were prevented from falling off the edge or where the sanitary facilities were located. It is thought that the split doors on many of the dwellings, with the top half of the door opening and the bottom half remaining locked, prevented children from tumbling off the cliffs. Their toilets were rooms set far away from the dwellings which served as ancient porta-johns.