Mesa Verde Panorama
Throughout the course of these travelogue posts about the trip, I’ve used the word sacred quite a few times. Yes, it’s out of necessity and objective truth, as native tribes hold these public lands as sacred in their creation myths, but I’ve also felt that these lands should be sacred to everyone for these cultural reasons and for their sheer beauty. It should come as no surprise, then, that Mesa Verde National Park also fits into this category and might be the undisputed superlative of the whole collection of places that we visited. Situated high on a verdant mesa in the Colorado wilderness that’s rife with natural beauty, the anthropological side of Mesa Verde is far beyond anything that I’ve ever experienced: hiking and climbing and crawling (more on that later) to get in and out of 700 year old dwellings. Wooden beams and art that’s withstood the elements and tests of time even though they’re exposed to the elements because those elements (desert heat and elevation!) helped preserve them. Ornate pottery remains in cliff dwellings and preserved in stellar museum exhibits. All of this and more felt like I was stepping into a page in one of my history books. So yes, Mesa Verde is sacred for the fact that it is a place of cultural heritage, but it’s also sacred for any visitor that comes to it and revel in the experience of this special National Park.
Keep calling your reps. Public lands and the National Park Service budget is still at risk. Experiences like this must be kept for all.
Mesa Verde is in the southwestern corner of Colorado was constructed throughout the thirteenth century by cliff-dwelling Ancestral Puebloans. Cliff Palace, which is the largest cliff-dwelling in North America, is believed to have sustained a population of about 100 people until a drought lasting longer than two decades forced relocation. Mesa Verde is still thought to inhabit the spirits of the ancestors of the Pueblo.
Mesa Verde Panorama
Throughout the course of these travelogue posts about the trip, I’ve used the word sacred quite a few times. Yes, it’s out of necessity and objective truth, as native tribes hold these public lands as sacred in their creation myths, but I’ve also felt that these lands should be sacred to everyone for these cultural reasons and for their sheer beauty. It should come as no surprise, then, that Mesa Verde National Park also fits into this category and might be the undisputed superlative of the whole collection of places that we visited. Situated high on a verdant mesa in the Colorado wilderness that’s rife with natural beauty, the anthropological side of Mesa Verde is far beyond anything that I’ve ever experienced: hiking and climbing and crawling (more on that later) to get in and out of 700 year old dwellings. Wooden beams and art that’s withstood the elements and tests of time even though they’re exposed to the elements because those elements (desert heat and elevation!) helped preserve them. Ornate pottery remains in cliff dwellings and preserved in stellar museum exhibits. All of this and more felt like I was stepping into a page in one of my history books. So yes, Mesa Verde is sacred for the fact that it is a place of cultural heritage, but it’s also sacred for any visitor that comes to it and revel in the experience of this special National Park.
Keep calling your reps. Public lands and the National Park Service budget is still at risk. Experiences like this must be kept for all.
Mesa Verde is in the southwestern corner of Colorado was constructed throughout the thirteenth century by cliff-dwelling Ancestral Puebloans. Cliff Palace, which is the largest cliff-dwelling in North America, is believed to have sustained a population of about 100 people until a drought lasting longer than two decades forced relocation. Mesa Verde is still thought to inhabit the spirits of the ancestors of the Pueblo.