Today was spent on the road system within Mesa Verde National Park. BTW, this is national park/monument number seven so we are definitely getting use of the annual pass. Each one would have been $15 to $30 for the entrance fee. This is Spruce House located behind the museum. It is closed permanently to people due to structural problems in arch. In other words, it can fall at any time.
In yesterday's blog I mentioned that shelters were built just about anywhere there was room. This is house with all the windows was really hard for me to pick out on the opposite cliff. Below is the actual view of the cliff. It took someone else pointing it out as I was looking far below where it actually was located.
The next stop was Square Tower House. This one was a real surprise to me as there is very little mention of this house. The most obvious feature is the four story tower. This one was sheltered pretty well as it was built at the end of a small valley. The displays mention that the houses were built in the alcoves not for security but for protection from the weather. It would be easy to close off the small doorways against inclement weather. Low sun angles in the winter would penetrate all the way to the back of the alcoves and the overhang would provide shade during the summer when the sun is higher in the sky.
After exploring for most of the day, we headed into town for groceries and fuel.
Hmmm, we must have missed Tower House when we were in Mesa Verde with the kids....cool stuff.
ReplyDeleteTower house looked like it was in pretty good shape. The tours I want t go on next time is Balcony House and Long House.
DeleteGreat pics! The structures and placements are so fascinating and generally, so well preserved.
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