Mesa Verde – RDZ Photography

Colorado is another of my favorite states. With it’s towering mountains and sunshine it is a majestic place.

Our visit starts with a 1948 Colorado map. Much like many of the western states Colorado was a very different place 70 + years ago. When this map was published there was less than 1.2 million Coloradans. Today it is nearing 6 million.

The state is filled with amazing natural wonders. The backside of the 1948 map details many of these.

Colorado however is not all mountainous. In fact the eastern 1/3, including Denver, is located on the high plains. It is most impressive where the plains reach the mountains, as in this scene where the newly completed Denver to Boulder Turnpike shows.

The turnpike was opened in 1951, just in time to make the cover of this 1953 map.

These photos from 2012 show a similar scene.

As we move into the 1960s the cover scene is Maroon Lake, near Aspen.

Founded as a mining camp for the Colorado Silver Boom, Aspen later found the real money was in snow – for skiing. Around the time this map came out Aspen was becoming a destination for the rich and famous, resulting in some of the most expensive real estate in the country. The photo below is representative of the wealth in Aspen, with a line of private jets at the airport – in the summer!

Buttermilk Mountain – where I learned to ski a lifetime ago, as part of a group trip with a bunch of people from Chicago. Nothing like being 22 years old, crashing down a mountain in the day and partying in Aspen at night. There were about 15 people in a house designed for 8, but it worked.

As you leave Aspen heading due east you cross Independence Pass. This pass is closed in the winter because of the heavy snow, but is beautiful in the summer.

Independence Pass – the treeline is very clearly in evidence here as you peak out at 12,095 feet – 3686 meters to my metric friends.

The mountain scenes continue in 1965 with Berthoud Pass. The pass is named for Edward Berthoud, the chief surveyor for the Colorado Central Railroad in the 1870s.

As with most roads through the mountains in Colorado, the routes were originally blazed by the railroads.

For 1966 and 1967 unidentified mountain scenes grace the cover.

It isn’t hard to find great mountain scenes in Colorado – this view is going up Mt Evans.

The mountain scenes continues throughout the 1960s and 1970s

All of the maps from this era featured the state symbols on the reverse side.

Colorado is known as the Centennial State, as it was admitted to the Union in 1876. The country’s bicentennial year in 1976 was more special for Colorado as the state celebrated it’s 100th anniversary.

The cover of this year’s map shows just how tough it was for those early travelers.

This view of Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon shows how much easier travel is today. This section of Interstate is known as an engineering marvel, it’s design took into consideration the flora and fauna, and natural surroundings, while providing a much needed transportation route through the mountains.

The late 1970s continued the mountain scenes.

Denver is featured in 1978. One of America’s great cities, Denver has a feel like no other – very young and energetic.

Union Station is a classic train station. It has been remodeled since these photos were taken in 2010.

Denver International Airport – the roof represents the mountains of Colorado.

Aspen is again featured in 1987.

For 1988 Garden of Gods is on the cover, with Pike’s Peak in the distance.

We made a stop at the Garden of the Gods in 2012…

In 2012 there were a number of very large forest fires impacting Colorado. On the afternoon we visited Garden of the Gods the first rain in weeks had just occurred, a huge thunderstorm that soaked everything. The entire state smelled of a campfire that had just been put out with water. Not only did it greatly aid in the forest fires, but it gave the wildlife a much needed drink.

Telluride is another ski town that has a number of tourists in the summer for the ranch life.

Coincidentally the next Colorado map in my collection is from 1997, and again features the area around Telluride.

Pawnee Buttes is featured in 1999. This geologic feature is not located in the mountains, rather it is located in far northeastern Colorado on the prairies.

The landscape is mostly flat, until you come across this area.

Rising out of the prairies are two 300′ high buttes.

The buttes are a result of erosion of the surrounding high plains.

Chautauqua Park in Bolder is on the 2002 cover. The Chautauqua society was an adult education movement from the late 1800s.

Boulder is home to the University of Colorado. Situated at the base of Boulder Mountain, it is a great little city with some impressive parks.

Interestingly there was a second edition map printed in 2002 featuring Lake Isabelle.

Mesa Verde National Park is the 2003 subject.

Mesa Verde is not only a national park, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has some of the best Ancestral Puebloan archaeological dwellings in the United States.

For thousands of years the area was inhabited by Paleo Indians. There are over 600 cliff dwellings in the park, including the one featured here – The Cliff Palace.

A visit in 2015 gave lots of photo ops at this amazing place.

Some people apparently can’t read….

In addition to the regular road map Colorado for a few years published an Educational Map, highlighting areas that can be used as a teaching opportunity for young people.

We had the opportunity to observe rafters on the Arkansas River during a trip on the Royal Gorge Scenic Railroad…

The Royal Gorge Bridge. Built as a tourist attraction in 1929 as the world’s highest bridge, suspended 955 feet above the river. It held this title until 2001.

It is still the highest bridge in the United States, although it is primarily a pedestrian bridge.

For much of the ‘teens’ the return to generic outdoor scenes returned.

Our last stop on this tour is Red Rocks Amphitheater. This natural bowl provides the perfect setting for concerts; numerous artists have recorded live albums here.

We had the opportunity to see the Blues Travelers here for a 4th of July concert.

Colorado – easily one of the 5 best states in the country to live, or visit.

Just east of Cortez, Colorado is Mesa Verde National Park.

With the brief drive, we ended up arriving before the Visitor Center opened so we drove to Park Point, the highest point at 8,572 ft in the park. From the observation tower you could see for miles to the distant mountains.

Returning to the visitor center promptly at 9 am we bought tickets at the Visitor’s Center for the 10:30 am ranger tour of the Balcony House, the only tour available that day. It is a 24 mile, 45 minute drive back to the Balcony House so we set out directly for our tour. Since we did arrive with some time to spare we spent a bit of time at the overlooks for the other houses in the cliff faces of the canyons.

Our tour took us into the pueblo cliff dwellings within the canyon. The one-hour Balcony House tour is one of the most intimate yet adventurous tours at Mesa Verde. A visit to Balcony House will challenge your fear of ladders, heights, and small spaces, and will give you the opportunity to explore the common areas of a mid-sized, 40-room dwelling.

The Balcony House tour requires visitors to descend a 100 foot staircase into the canyon; climb a 32 foot ladder; crawl through a 12 foot, 18 inches wide tunnel; and clamber up an additional 60 feet on ladders and stone steps. About 50 people hiked the path, down and climbed the two-person wooden ladder as part of the journey to get into the dwelling.

As noted we also squeezed through crevices and crawled through tunnels to get to the ruins. We learned that the ancient cliff dwellers lived on top of the mesa for 700 years then moved to the cliffs of the canyon for another 100 years. It is thought that the cliff dwellers lived in these homes nested on the cliffs to give them an advantage from their enemies. No one knows what happened to these people but many artifacts and some graves were found at Cliff Palace.

The tour guide led the group to a kiva in excellent condition that was used for socializing for the Puebloans. Some of the dwellings had multiple stories with the wood and stone materials still visibly solid. An archeology group from the 1920’s set steel supports in some of the dwellings to preserve the structures while others buildings were left untouched. We moved along a ledge of the structure and climbed a very steep ladder to stone steps cut into the cliff. A chain railing along the steps helped us pull ourselves up to the next ladder to reach the top of the mesa again. I am not fond of heights but made it through the whole tour.

We drove the loop around the mesa to view the Cliff Palace from the overlook at the opposite side of the canyon. We could see the Cliff Palace with more rooms and kivas tucked into caves and hidden along the cliff. This site is very special, it sparks a thought to how these people survived and thrived for so many years by being so resourceful.

Lunch was at the park service’s Far View Cafe, with the company of two bus loads of French tourists. Later we drove to Step House where we walked downhill to see dwellings in a shady canyon. This cliff dwelling had upper and lower rooms and a kiva. Primitive steps made by the Puebloans rose out of the far side of the canyon but were not open to the public for use since these steps were not restored and dangerous.

Our next stop was the Spruce Tree pueblo, with a downhill on a path to ruins of 115 rooms and 8 kivas. There were rooms deeper into the cliff but we did not have access to go deep inside. The ancient Puebloans farmed small patches of corn and squash. We saw three flat stones with hand sized round stones set at the front of the dwelling as the ranger explained that these stones were used to grind grain such as corn. Juniper, a native tree, along with sandstone were used to build the dwellings. It was evident that the dwellings at this site still had original juniper wood and stone held together with their mud mix. The tall two-story construction had small square windows and small square doors. Spruce Tree dwelling also had a lower level where we climbed down a narrow ladder to a round stone room. The opening from above was so small that when a person stood at the opening he blocked all light into the room below. The ceiling was about eight feet high and about 20 people could stand inside.

By late afternoon we were ready for 1 more hike, so we went back to a trail near the Balcony House Overlook at Soda Canyon. We walked the trail to the edge of the canyon to see the Balcony House from across the canyon. This view showed exactly how high up on the cliff face the dwelling that we toured was, and from afar we could see the entire dwelling from one viewpoint.

In addition we saw the ladders anchored against the cliff that we scaled down and up again. This view made the tour seem even more spectacular seeing the location of the dwelling and its height on the canyon wall, and made me glad I went on the tour before seeing this view.

We made our way off the mesa down the hill through switchbacks and a tunnel toward Durango, Colorado.

As we neared Durango a rock hit the windshield and put a crack into the lower left side. A truck with a trailer carrying an ATV was ahead of us but we did not see how anything could discharge from the truck on a paved highway. We were only passing through Durango, a ski town, to get to Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

It was about 6 pm when we arrived at the High Country Inn on the outskirts of Pagosa Springs. High Country Inn did not have our reservation so we opted to find lodging in the town of Pagosa Springs closer to restaurants. We had trouble finding a place to stay the night but ended up at the Pagosa Springs Inn. We followed a bus of elderly tourist who were hassling the desk manager about their luggage and wake up calls. Those elderly patrons caused such a fuss that the desk manager threw up his hands to say he had no more rooms to avoid dealing with them anymore. The hotel was also busy due to a Corvette convention held as part of a town festival.

As usual, I found that being polite helps, as I politely asked for a room for us and the manager obliged. Given the entire town was busy, we opted to walk next door to eat dinner at Pizza Hut.