A Final Look at Mesa Verde

If there was one thing I wasn’t ready for in my visit to Mesa Verde, it was the sheer number of sites. Somehow I had envisioned that there would be one major site, not dozens of them spread out over miles. In looking back over many hundreds of pictures far too often I was unable to identify what site was pictured. When I go back the next time, I’ll be sure to enable the gps on my camera, even if it means carrying two or three extra batteries with me.

I wasn’t just the sheer number of sites that made it confusing. You could often view a site from several different spots. I used two different cameras with apparently rather different color renditions because the sites I could identify as being the same site often looked different because of the color differences. Of course, I also learned that the time of day and the angle of the sun made sites look dramatically different. It was easy to see why they had guided evening tours for photographers.

Luckily, there are lots of excellent sites online for anyone interested in an in-depth look at Mesa Verde. All I’m going to do in this final post is post four final pictures of different sites. This first one shows the rugged setting of a village

puebloindistance

while the second one offers a close-up of the same village.

ancestralpueblo

The next shot taken of a different village at a different time of day is dramatically different,

anthrpueblo

but no more so than the last shot.

finlpueblo

Luckily, for me, at least, all the shots capture some of the awe I felt touring these sites and learning how the Pueblo Ancestors lived.

One thought on “A Final Look at Mesa Verde”

  1. I got to tour Mesa Verde with my father many years ago, and I was amazed at how accessible it is. It was awe inspiring to be able to climb down into a kiva and think about the people who had sat there before me, many centuries earlier. Thank you for posting these pictures, they brought back wonderful memories!

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