Family Trip 2010: Mesa Verde

I remember going to Mesa Verde when I was about 10. Though I do remember being impressed with it, I mostly remember being terrified! The road trip from the entrance to the tops of the mountains left me wanting to scream, cry, throw up and wet my pants - all at the same time - because of the winding roads and the extreme drop offs and the fact that there were no guardrails. I didn't want to relive that part of Mesa Verde as a 38 year old so I did all the driving. It is soooo worth the winding road to see!!

The hiking was very enjoyable: a perfect temperature, a slight breeze, steep hills for a workout and level spots to catch our breath. Nathan and Hyrum were amazing hikers! At one site it was a 1 mile round trip hike and at the other site it was a 2 mile hike and they both walked it all (with the exception of a brief shoulder ride for Hyrum). Once again, I was a little nervous about the extreme drop offs to the rocky depths of mountainous oblivion but the kids were all good to watch out for each other and it was very fun. Erika kept torturing me by pretending to jump off the edge so we posed for a picture.

Rock, rock, rock, and more rock. Yet we were never bored by the view. We were in awe at the size, the shape, the colors, the foliage growing out of rock. It was all gorgeous! The really great thing about hiking among rock is that when you get to hot it is easy to cool down by going to a spot of rock in the shade and pressing your hands or face or back to the rock.

Once we got to the dwellings were starting wondering. How did they build it? Where did they get all that loose rock? How many people lived there? Why did they leave? Were these Nephites or Lamanites? What was their water source? What did they eat? What did they do without a Wii? It was fun to imagine family life in the rock homes of these mountains.

Behind Erika you can see the area that we started at and the other side of the canyon that we hiked down to. And more of the scenery as well as the silliness of our family. It was so fun to not be on any time schedule so that we could just wander and look and laugh and wonder and be (and not have any cell service available).




Because we couldn't take the guided tours (time and toddlers) we took the trolley ride to look at the more remote and larger dwellings. There we did another 1 mile hike to see 4 separate mini-dwellings. The circular, underground dwellings were the very impressive. The picture with Levi squating down next to a big circle shows the depth and size (and how well he ignored that "stay behind the ropes" sign). It made sense that they were underground and built with rock to have natural cool air inside their homes. Justin is standing next to one of the covered, more shallow, underground dwellings.

We spent about 6 hours at Mesa Verde and didn't even see half of it. It was long enough for the little guys in our group and had we had camping stuff it would have been fun to stay and hike the following day. For this trip, it was the perfect ending.