Friday, May 25: Leave Cortez Hampton Inn for Mesa Verde. Brief visit to visitors center, buy tickets for tour Saturday morning and off into the Park. Senior Pass saved us $20! We drove the many miles into the park, stopping frequently at pull offs and overlooks. Lots of amazing views along the way. Got to the Far View area and Pete got a sandwich for lunch that Gayle ate half of. Then walked the Far View trail and saw several stone building ruins dating from 600 AD on. These people preceded and were ancestors of the cliff dwellers.
We then went on to Wetherill Mesa. Ate a snack in the shade near the Rangers area and birded a bit. A Say’s phoebe was nesting on a shelf under the shelter. We also saw mountain bluebirds there. We the walked the trail down to the Step House and saw pit houses from 600 AD right next to cliff dwellings from 1200. Again, same people, different architecture. We got to walk right into the ruins. It was a 0.8 mile walk, but we came out tired, resting often. We rested a bit in the shade again and went on to dinner at a brew pub in Cortez.
Birds seen at Mesa Verde that we hadn’t seen frequently on this trip:
- Green Tailed Towhee
- Western Bluebirds
- Say’s Phoebe
- American Kestral
- Northern Flicker (orange phase)
- Vesper Sparrow
- Magpie