Mesa Verde National Park in Southwest Colorado was created to preserve thousands of archeological sites, three of which are large cliff dwellings. On this Monday morning, we took a tour of the Cliff Palace with 50 of our senior citizen friends. Ranger Drew did an outstanding job providing true historical perspective. It was humbling and disturbing to learn that many native peoples were displaced when some of the national parks were founded. The tour was running very long due to the large number of steps and ladders and our very inquisitive group of senior explorers. Bryce began to disapprove of the questions being asked so we made an early exit. We hiked the Petroglyph Point Trail viewed a few more sites and hit the road.
Route 145 from Mesa Verde to Black Canyon was absolutely stunning! We crossed into the Rocky Mountains and through the San Juan National Forest. If we had more time, I would have loved to explore the area and camp on some of the US park land. A national treasure!
