On the drive our to Mesa Verde last night, I got ahead of the storm but by morning it had caught up with me. I think this is the same storm that has been chasing me since southern New Mexico. Anyway I was on my way home and while I would have liked to have taken a few more pictures, having not taken any since the north rim of the Grand Canyon I was kind of getting used to this. Besides, this was an evening picture place anyway. So I just wander around with the video camera for a few hours.

Before arriving at Mesa Verde I really didn't know anything about it. What I found out was this is it one of the largest preserves of cliff dwellings in the world. Within the park alone there are over 650 and counting the adjoining reservation that brings the total up to over 2,000.It is now estimated that at the height of this area, more than 50,000 people may have lived here. No one knows for sure why they suddenly all left 800 years ago.

Of all of these dwellings, 6 are open to the public. I saw about 4 of them. The most impressive one is probably Cliff Palace. While it's not the largest, it's pretty close. You have to take a ranger guided tour to see this one and at first I wasn't going to take the time but I met this ranger when I was asking questions and he just let me go ahead without a ticket. It was well worth it and I'm glad I did it. The ranger was an archeologist and was really knowledgeable about the site. The tour was only suppose to be an hour long but he spent a little over 1.5 hours with us.

Among some of the things I learned are that the dwelling has 150 rooms but only 30 are considered habitations rooms, a percentage much smaller than other dwellings. No one knows for certain why. Also, the site appears to have some sort of social dividing wall between areas. It is speculated that one area may have been an administration area of some kind. And things appears to be grouped in 3's in important structures; kivas (underground ceremonial rooms), windows in a few buildings, stories in towers, etc...

And finally, that this is the most heavily looted site in the world, even surpassing the tombs of Egypt. It was so heavily looted that no artifacts have ever been discovered at the site. It recent times, there is even evidence of drilling and dynamite blasting to get at back rooms and artifact souvenirs.

I also learned what the most commonly asked questions are:

1. How many undiscovered ruins are in the park?
2. What did they use for water (water of course).
3. At what altitude do deer change into Elk.
4. And my favorite, Why did they build these houses so far from the roads.

After this tour I stopped at a few more ruins on my way out and then I headed off for Utah, about 150 miles away. It looked as if I would be in the Arches area by sundown if I hurried.

About 2 hours later, I made it to Arches but the weather was bad so I just grabbed dinner and a mocha and kept on going. I didn't stop until I was about 40 miles north of the Idaho border at a rest stop. I had passed through Utah in an afternoon. I helps that the speed limit in these states is 75 mph and you can safely do 85 without being bothered.