Mesa Verde National Park - Long House

Mesa Verde has too many sights to see in one day, so we actually spent three nights and two days.  It was the best display of ancient Puebloan cliff dwellings we have ever scene.  And then more.  We'll get right to the good stuff:  Here's a couple of photos at the Long House

We began our day early at 7:30 when the Vistor's Center opened.  We were scheduled for a 10:30 tour of the Long House but wanted to see if we could get tickets for an earlier one.

As it was, we were fortunate to get the last two tickets for the 10:30 tour.  And it was a 25 mile drive to the site so we had plenty of time to get over there.

**Hint:  You can purchase tickets for tours in advance in town at the Visitor's Center in Cortez or at the National Park Visitor's Center.  If we had known that, we would have gotten them the afternoon before.

It was a gorgeous day and we took our time driving through the park out to Wetherill Mesa and the starting point for the Long House tour.

The ranger-led tour was still over an hour away so we took a 2.0 mile hike to the Nordenshkiold Site.

We made it back to the starting point with our other 23 hiking partners and got the safety and resource brief from our ranger guide before we started out.

The hike down to the Long House was only slightly longer at 2.25 miles.  Once we got there it was everything we hoped it would be.  They estimate 150 people lived here under the alcove in their cliff dwellings.

One of the best things about the hike was meeting two new friends - Dick and Cathy.  They are from Minnesota and travel extensively in their Leisure Travel RV.

We had a great time chatting with them and then had a picnic under the shelter when we finished the hike.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!