Newspaper Rock and Mesa Verde

Today was relatively low-exercise and the first night my legs and feet aren’t killing me!

We drove out to see Newspaper Rock Historical Monument near Monticello to see the petroglyphs there.

There’s been a lot of debate as to when and who made these drawing in the rock, with some being recent and others being up to 700 years old. Unfortunately it’s been marred by idiots (notably some fool in 1954) up until 1961 when it became a protected site. There are lots of drawings of figures, deer, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, people on horseback and random squiggles. Oh, and space aliens. Lots of space aliens.

Newspaper Rock is really small, perhaps 30’ long and 10’ tall underneath a rock overhang. I was expecting something bigger for some reason. Impressive none the less.

Next was a long drive on to Cortez – the largest town we’ve been to so far. We checked into the hotel and had lunch. Ms. Pregnant didn’t want to do much at this point, but it was still early in the day so I dragged her off to Mesa Verde National Park.to check it out ahead of tomorrow.

When we got to Mesa Verde we realized how huge and isolated it was. It was 15 miles from the gate to the Visitor’s Center, uphill along a scenic but winding road that followed the mesas and ridges. The landscape was covered in beautiful orange, gold and green foliage.

At the Visitor’s Center we booked tickets to the Long House tour and decided to take the short Cliff Palace tour at 5 pm. The Cliff Palace was impressive – standing there amid the rebuilt ruins nestled into a cleft in the cliff walls, I realized how precarious a place it was to live. Amazing that people would have chosen such a difficult and dangerous location for their homes. The guide explained some of the history and archeology and also explained that most of the questions about the people who lived here were still unanswered.

On the drive back to the Visitor’s Center we were stopped by a herd of wild turkeys that decided it was time to cross the road. Several dozen of these large birds sauntered casually across the road and into the underbrush. They must be smarter than people make them out to be – they chose to cross at a marked pedestrian crossing!

We stopped at the Parkview Point viewpoint just at the perfect time to catch the sunset. Then it was the 90-minute long winding drive back to Cortez for dinner.