July 9: Mesa Verde National Park, CO

This morning we packed up camp in the Rio Grande National Forest. It was freezing, I think it might have actually been colder than the previous night because I woke up a few times not being able to feel certain toes and fingers. The morning wasn't any better as it was still cold and the dampness of the forest crept into my bones. I had on jeans, covered by sweatpants, shirt, sweatshirt, jacket, wool socks, gloves, you name it. None of that mattered, the cold had already chilled me to the bone and it would be hours before I could feel my toes again.

So off we were on our drive to Mesa Verde, it has infamous cave dwellings of the ancient Pueblo people. The park has an estimated 500 dwellings throughout (it's huge), but they have a few that are the most visited and accessible. I was here 15 years ago with my family and it was really interesting to come here again and experience it as an adult. Cliff Palace is the more tourist-like dwelling, but I had already seen it and we opted for the more self-directed tours. We saw Spruce Tree House, hiked Petroglyph Trail and bought our tickets for the guided Balcony House tour. It was totally awesome, with a few minor bumps here and there...

The Petroglyph Trail was crazy, sometimess there was only a few inches of trail between the rocks and the canyon below, definitely not for people leary of heights...and the fact that sometimes you had to scale small rock walls. It was beautiful nonetheless but I was becoming more and more thirsty, I think I was beginning to dehydrate because the sun was blazing and the hike was demanding all of my energy and concentration. We made it back in time for me to guzzle down a Gatorade and grab some water before the Balcony House tour. Oh yeah, and during the hike my lens cap apparently escaped and the filter became unscrewed from the lens, crashing into the course rock below...which claimed a hefty chunk of the glass..at least it wasn't the lens. Unfortunately though, without the filter or the lens cap, there was nothing protecting the lens. I had to rig my sunglass pouch as a protector...it looked like some sort of condom. I'm sure we attracted even more inquisitive looks from other tourists during the remainder of our trip as finding a camera shop in the middle of BFE ws impossible!

We made camp in the park, thanked God for the hot showers and laundramat facilities (where we could properly launder our clothes from the Alabaster Cavern day) and called it a night. As a side note, a bear had been spotted a few days before and we were warned to have everything locked safely in the car...Sara slept with the mace...again.