Day 12

Greetings from Colorado! We have finally said goodbye to Utah.
We left Moab and backtracked up to Canyonlands National Park. This park is aptly named with plummeting depths carved out of the sandstone by the Colorado and Green rivers. It is very inaccessible and requires a fourwheel drive vehicle to properly tour it. There are a few overlooks that can be reached by car and this is a photo of the view from grandview point. (It seems every park out here has a grandview point)



We continued west and headed into Colorado. Our first stop was Mesa Verde National Park. This park is home to the largest pueblo indian ruins remaining. The picture at right is of Cliff Palace. It was discovered in the 1880's by two cowboys riding in a snowstorm looking for lost cattle. They came to the edge of the canyon and saw these ruins in the side of the opposite canyon wall.





These ancient puebloans built this small town around 1200 AD. It is believed that about 100 individuals lived here. They built under the cliffs for shelter from the elements and protection from other indian tribes.






We descended 100 feet down into the canyon on steps carved out of the rock by the National Parks Service. However, the picture at right shows how the indians got in and out of the canyon. We used these ladders through narrow cracks in the rock to climb the 100 feet out of the canyon. Just as the puebloans did hundreds of years ago.







Tonight we are in Durango, CO. We will head north in the morning for our final national park visit.
-Matthew