COLORADO - MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK

Go to the next picture for caption.

2009-07-04T13:04:10Z

andresalvador
Go to the next picture for caption.

This is a sunset view from our balcony. Our view faces the southwest area of Mesa Verde Park. Every morning and sunset time, while we are in our hotel, we just sit in the balcony and appreci ...

2009-07-04T13:04:10Z

andresalvador
This is a sunset view from our balcony. Our view faces the southwest area of Mesa Verde Park. Every morning and sunset time, while we are in our hotel, we just sit in the balcony and appreci ...

Photo was taken inside our room. There is a private balcony beyond the window. This was taken at sunset. This place gives you all the peace and quiet we need for a pleasant dream.

2009-07-04T13:04:10Z

andresalvador
Photo was taken inside our room. There is a private balcony beyond the window. This was taken at sunset. This place gives you all the peace and quiet we need for a pleasant dream.

Another extraordinarily beautiful view of sunset as seen from our balcony. Despite not having TV, radio, telephone, internet signal and cell phone signals, we did not miss it! The food in "M ...

2009-07-04T13:04:10Z

andresalvador
Another extraordinarily beautiful view of sunset as seen from our balcony. Despite not having TV, radio, telephone, internet signal and cell phone signals, we did not miss it! The food in "M ...

It was early morning when I took this picture from our balcony. It was a cold morning but the light creeping over the top of the hilly slopes was a photgrapher's delight.

2009-07-04T13:04:10Z

andresalvador
It was early morning when I took this picture from our balcony. It was a cold morning but the light creeping over the top of the hilly slopes was a photgrapher's delight.

This is a morning shot of a dead tree in front of our balcony. If you look closely there is a red bird on the top center branch. I enlarged that portion. See next picture.

2009-07-04T13:04:10Z

andresalvador
This is a morning shot of a dead tree in front of our balcony. If you look closely there is a red bird on the top center branch. I enlarged that portion. See next picture.

Here she is the fat red bird!

2009-07-04T13:04:10Z

andresalvador
Here she is the fat red bird!

A morning view. The dead tree shown on the previous pictures may be seen on the right.

2009-07-04T13:04:10Z

andresalvador
A morning view. The dead tree shown on the previous pictures may be seen on the right.

An afternoon view with the glare of the sun caught on my camera lens.

2009-07-04T13:04:10Z

andresalvador
An afternoon view with the glare of the sun caught on my camera lens.

The early morning sun details the wild grass flowers in front of our balcony.

2009-07-04T13:04:10Z

andresalvador
The early morning sun details the wild grass flowers in front of our balcony.

This was an afternoon shot from our balcony.

2009-07-04T13:04:10Z

andresalvador
This was an afternoon shot from our balcony.

Another afternoon spectacle of nature.

2009-07-04T13:04:10Z

andresalvador
Another afternoon spectacle of nature.

These are the women working at the front desk of Far View Lodge check-in desk. Two of those pretty women are from the Philippines.

2009-07-04T13:04:10Z

andresalvador
These are the women working at the front desk of Far View Lodge check-in desk. Two of those pretty women are from the Philippines.

Jaycel is one of the Pilipina. She was hired as a contract worker directly from the Philippines by an American Company.

2009-07-04T13:04:10Z

andresalvador
Jaycel is one of the Pilipina. She was hired as a contract worker directly from the Philippines by an American Company.

andresalvador's photo

2009-07-04T13:04:10Z

COLORADO - MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK

Go to the next picture for caption.

This is a sunset view from our balcony. Our view faces the southwest area of Mesa Verde Park. Every morning and sunset time, while we are in our hotel, we just sit in the balcony and appreci ...

Photo was taken inside our room. There is a private balcony beyond the window. This was taken at sunset. This place gives you all the peace and quiet we need for a pleasant dream.

Another extraordinarily beautiful view of sunset as seen from our balcony. Despite not having TV, radio, telephone, internet signal and cell phone signals, we did not miss it! The food in "M ...

It was early morning when I took this picture from our balcony. It was a cold morning but the light creeping over the top of the hilly slopes was a photgrapher's delight.

This is a morning shot of a dead tree in front of our balcony. If you look closely there is a red bird on the top center branch. I enlarged that portion. See next picture.

Here she is the fat red bird!

A morning view. The dead tree shown on the previous pictures may be seen on the right.

An afternoon view with the glare of the sun caught on my camera lens.

The early morning sun details the wild grass flowers in front of our balcony.

This was an afternoon shot from our balcony.

Another afternoon spectacle of nature.

These are the women working at the front desk of Far View Lodge check-in desk. Two of those pretty women are from the Philippines.

Jaycel is one of the Pilipina. She was hired as a contract worker directly from the Philippines by an American Company.

andresalvador's photo

This is a view from our hotel on the way to the cliff dwellings. One of the many "mesa"topped mountains in the park.

A picture of a yellow wildflower I spotted under a brush.

On the way to Park Point we passed this area area of burned trees. The fires here are started by lightning not by man.

My black and white version of the previous photo.

One of the views at Park Point. This is the highest point in the park where they have an observation house to watch for fires.

Another view from Park Point. A plaque at the observation deck states that thirty years ago on a clear day you can see the curvature of earth from this observation deck. Now, there is no cle ...

Balcony House is the most challenging cliff dwelling tour at Mesa Verde but it is also the most intimate. Named after the remnants of a dwelling balcony, this small site provides insight to ...

A reflection on the mirror of the Visitors Center where we lined up to buy tickets for the tour of Balcony House. When we bought the tickets it was noted on a signage and we were informed ve ...

A view of Soda Canyon at the back of the Visitor's Center Building.

A view of Balcony House from a look-out point across a canyon.

View of Balcony House across the canyon. From the top level above Balcony House, visitors have to go down almost to the bottom of the canyon and then climb up to the level of Balcony House. ...

A view of Balcony house as we were starting to go down the canyon. Every tour group headed by a State Park Ranger have one hour to see the cliff dwelling. That includes your hike down, the l ...

This is where we started going down the mountain. The ranger guide asked the two young girls to lead our group.

When we got down the canyon, we started to go up stairs and ladders. This is the first ladder, a twenty footer.

This is a view of the 30 feet long wood ladder.

Beth reaching the top of the 8 feet ladder.

The ranger is the last to go up the ladder. This is the twenty foot ladder.

A view of the left end of the Balcony House

The ranger is talking here about the round Kiva space at the foreground.

A view of the mountain side trail below the cliff dwellings.

This is how they treat the ends of the dwelling area. The vertical stone walls used to reach up to sloping cliff ceiling.

The individual rooms are still marked by the remaining low walls.

There is no sign of restoration on this site compared to the Spruce House which is slowly being restored.

All faces are seriously listening to the ranger's lecture. The history of the American Indian culture is visible to the visitor's eyes in this park.

At the low point of the cliff dwelling area (at the back) behind these two visitors are the passageway or access to the different areas.

This is the work areas where they thresh out and grind grains using the smooth sided stones against the floor.

This is the Kiva room. The Kiva room is used for religious rituals and social meetings. Most Kiva rooms are lower than the rest of the dwellings. The big hole at the center ifor fire. The sm ...

The bigger openings are not windows but doorways or passageway.

The 2 feet ladder was not described when we bought the tour tickets :)

These two girls were our group lead to the Balcony House.

The top edge of the Kiva below.

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The ranger lectured at every area of the dwelling before he let us elore on our own.

A view from the dwelling lookin out.

on this picture, you can see the scale of the cliff dwelling. These people are not on the bottom of the canyon but on the loweest part of the dwelling floor.

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This is the passageway at the back of the cliff.

A narrow passageway at the back as visitors go up a higher level. You have to go through here to exit the Balcony House.

It gets narrower and eventually you will be crawling to go through an approximately 18" x 18" two feet long tunnel.

View at the end of a narrow passageway.

Our ranger tour guide.

View at the outer edge of the dwellng. One of the remaining dwelling balcony is shown on the right hand side. The balconies do not have rails. People just step from the inside, through the o ...

The balcony is supported by timber outriggers. The balcony floor is on wood base with clay reinforced with plant fibers. Most popular are the fibers of the yucca leaves.

There used to be a support at the end of that cantilevered timber. Below it on the left is a Kiva space.

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Viewed from inside another room.

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A view before the final stair going up to the street level.

Smiles and sigh of relief after going throught the trails, stairways and ladders at an elevation of approximately more than 8,000 feet above sea level. Here we were trying to catch our breat ...

Tour tickets are also required to see the Long House. Long House is located on Wetherill Mesa in the western portion of Mesa Verde National Park. Long House is reached by driving out a 12 mi ...

Picture taken as we walked the trail towards Long House.

A view of Long House as we walked down the mountain side.

We stopped briefly to let the group ahead of us finish their tour.

It is tricky to take a picture towards the bright exterior side.

Everbody listens to a good lecture.

Again, like in Balcony House, the Kiva commands the center of the dwelling areas.

andresalvador's photo

andresalvador's photo

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