Day #4 Oct. 4, 2016 Monument Valley to Alamosa, CO

The evening was filled with whistling winds and the tumbling weed has been a tumbling'. It is forecast that winds will gust to nearly 50 mph today but rain is not forecast. I am really glad that we are not pulling the travel trailer or we would probably not be able to travel in these winds.

After a fine breakfast at the Hampton Inn with a nice lecture by Peter MacDonald, one of the few remaining Navajo Code Talkers, we set out for Mesa Verde, one of the Pueblo Indian cliff dwelling sites that is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a National Park.

Mesa Verde National Park documents a place where these indians lived for over 700 years before disappearing for unknown reasons.

The cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde are some of the most notable and best preserved in the North American Continent. Sometime during the late 1190s, after primarily living on the mesa top for 600 years, many Ancestral Pueblo people began living in pueblos they built beneath the overhanging cliffs. The structures ranged in size from one-room storage units to villages of more than 150 rooms. While still farming the mesa tops, they continued to reside in the alcoves, repairing, remodeling, and constructing new rooms for nearly a century. By the late 1270s, the population began migrating south into present-day New Mexico and Arizona. By 1300, the Ancestral Puebloan occupation of Mesa Verde ended.

It takes about 2.5 hours to drive through most of the park and the speed limit is 35 mph through narrow roads without guardrails. Autos cannot pull trailers through the park. You can self-drive or purchase guided tours at the visitor center and research center before entering the park.

Interesting Sculpture at Visitor Center

Earline is a mazed.

Views from the road to the cliff dwellings.

This is the Spruce House cliff dwellings. You can't get closer because they are under repair.

Earline describing the Spruce Tree Dwellings :)   https://youtu.be/jn8wFRW73Ek

After our park experience, we had to hustle to take Route 160 East so that in the morning we can visit the Great Sand Dunes National Park near Alamosa, CO. We drove 350 miles today through spectacular scenery with trees changing colors. 

We encountered a nice waterfall called Treasure Falls just before climbing the Rocky Mountain range to cross the Continental Divide at an altitude of 11,280 feet. There was snow at that altitude but fortunately none was on the roadway.

Treasure Falls

The Continental Divide

It was interesting to go from 100+ degree weather to 46 degree weather within one day.

We ended today's journey at a Best Western in Alamosa, CO. After a quick dinner and brew at the San Luis Valley Brewing Company, it was time to crash. We have to start making more distance towards Ohio if we are to be there for Earline's friends on October 7th.