While in Cortez, CO., we are going to the Mesa Vera National Park. I forgot to turn my camera back to landscape, instead of night landscape that it was on from the night before; for the sunset. I did not realize it till we were going back through a tunnel and I went to turn it to night landscape for that picture. Needless to say all my shots are dark and not very good. I tried to lighten them up some, but they just are not as good as they should be.
On our way up the mountain.
The colors were awesome.
We walked up to the watch tower at the highest point.
We had beautiful warm low 80 temps and sunny.
Pictures of color and road below.
More vista's
The park has had about 5 fires in the last 10 years and has lost 50 % of their trees.
Standing at look out point of Cliff Palace.
Cliff Palace. Looking from same lookout point as previous picture, but looking down under the cliff. This is the largest of 600 cliff dwellings found in this area.
Before we go down to the palace, we are told by the park ranger guide that we will be going down 130 feet, and if you have any health problems such as heart, knee, or respiratory problems you should donate your $3 ticket to the park and not go down. He said if you go down and have problems and can't make it back out you would have to be helicoptered out at a cost of $15,000. then he points at the far corner of the palace and says you will have to climb a ladder out of that crack in the cliff. If you double click on the picture above you will be able to see the ladder and a person climbing out of the crevice in the cliff. I got a little nervous as I remembered the last ladder I tried to climb in the Bad lands and could not complete, and took 4 to 5 days to recover from.
We headed down the stairs going down. I took this picture looking up after I came down.
Then we had to climb this short ladder up to the palace. The ladder was very hot from the sun. Joe had to pull me up at the top as I was running out of energy. I was also carry my purse (what was I thinking carrying that) and had a stainless steel water bottle clipped to my belt loop that kept clanging on the ladder.
After we got into the palace, we sat in the shade has our guide told us more of the history of the place. I was dwelling on the climb back out, as my legs felt weak now.
The dwelling was built and used for 100 years from 1100 to 1200 AD by American Indians called the Ancestral Puebloans or also called the Anasazi by the archeologist's. The people lived to an average age of 32, and would climb to the top mesa and farm and then return back into their cliff homes.
After touring the the palace, we had to ascend to the top mesa through some steps and then a ladder built in the crevice of the cliff. There was a older women ahead of me who had a friend helping her up by guiding with helpful instructions to climb up without wearing out your muscles. I listened, and found I had been doing it wrong causing more strain on my already sore muscles. I told her thanks for the advise as it helped me to make it to the top,with her still pulling me out at the top. She told her friend and I to stand up straight when climbing and to reach up high with your arms, and to use your calf muscles to push up and not your thigh muscles. When you are nervous of the climb, you tend to use your thigh muscles and stay all tight in a ball with tenseness. Joe was behind me caring my purse, because he knew I was all ready exhausted just coming down. After we reached the top I had this informative lady take a picture of the ladder and crevices we came up out of. I was too tired and didn't want to go near the edge.
Looking down back at the place we just climbed out of.
Again you can double click on this picture to see where we climbed out of the cliff. the crevice we climbed out of is the farthest crevice in the right upper corner of the picture.
Coming down the mountain.
Taking a picture from a road above to a road below we will soon be on. The timing was perfect for such a God Glory view of his creation.
Almost down to the bottom. This was the 2nd most scariest drive, the first, being the Trail Ridge Drive in Estes Park.
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