Colorado Love

June 5th - 8th, 2021

We landed in Mancos, Colorado around 5:30pm on Saturday, June 5th, with plenty of daylight to set up camp for the next 3 nights at Riverwood RV Park. 

This was both of our first times in the southwestern part of Colorado, and we were immediately enamored by the diverse landscape of giant canyons and mountains, excited to hit Mesa Verde National Park the next day (June 6th). In the morning, a few minutes prior to leaving to head to the park, we discovered that our kitchen sink was leaking badly, and forming a pool of water underneath. We cleaned up the mess and decided to let it air out while we went to explore Mesa Verde for the day. 

Mesa Verde is a less trafficked park, compared to some of the other ones we plan to visit on this road trip, but was incredibly unique and beautiful, and certainly worth the trip! Home of the Ancestral Pueblo people for ~ 700 years (from AD 550 - AD 1300), this is the only National Park that focuses on the preservation of the culture of an ancient people. As we toured the large park, we learned all about the various pit houses, kivas, pueblos and cliff houses that the Pueblo people called home, and were able to see many of them up close. The thoughtful way in which these ancient dwellings were built was very impressive, and we could feel the energy of this special place. 

We decided to start our morning on the less visited Wetherill Mesa. The drive in is stunningly beautiful, and curves around the giant canyon on a windy road. Our first stop was at the Step House, one of the many cliff dwellings featured in the park. We took the self-guided, one mile loop down to the dwelling, and were able to see the various pit houses and kivas up close, which was neat. There was also a friendly ranger there who explained a bit of the history of the place to us. After the Step House, we unloaded our bikes from the back of Phoenix, our first use of them on this road trip, and cycled the 6 mile long house paved loop around the Wetherill Mesa.

You could walk this loop, but we were so happy to have our bikes, which made it much faster and cooler during the early afternoon heat. This was certainly one of the highlights of our visit to Mesa Verde! During the loop, we visited two overlooks of other cliff houses, the Kodak House and the Long House, which we had nearly to ourselves. We also spent time in the Badger House Community, and learned more about the history of these dwellings. After our bike loop, we paused for lunch, and then drove over to the Chapin Mesa, the more popular of the two mesas. By this point, we were feeling the heat, but being on a bit of a tight timeline, only allowed one day to do this park, so we persevered on, wanting to see as much as possible. 

We parked by the museum, and embarked on a 3 mile hike of Petroglyph Point. This was another highlight of our visit, and featured canyon views abound, very few people, and an ancient petroglyph panel, which we had a fun time deciphering with another family. At 7000 ft above sea level, and roughly 500 ft of elevation gain, this 3 mile hike felt like a true challenge in the constant heat and sun. Thank goodness for cliffs and some beautiful pinyon-juniper trees to offer some shade along the way! 

After the hike, we decided to drive the 6 mile Mesa Top Loop, accompanied by a podcast which was narrated by a Mesa Verde park ranger, who also is a descendent of the Pueblo people. The podcast was fantastic, and offered a unique take on the history of the park and its people. A lot of the loop and stops along it were a bit of overkill for us, as we had already seen many examples of the ancient dwellings up close and personal earlier in the day at the Step and Badger Houses. We were also getting pretty tired but this point in the day, and didn't have much energy left in us to walk around at each stop on the driving tour. We stuck with it though, and were glad we did. The impressive views of Cliff Palace, the largest dwelling in the park, were truly a highlight! On the way out, we made one final stop at Park Point Overlook, the highest point in the park, sitting at 8572 ft. The views of the surrounding valleys and mountains were breathtaking, and we took out our selfie stick for a photo. Little did we know, we’d choose to hike in the La Plata Mountains, which we looked out over, the next day. When we got home that night, Ian troubleshooted the sink leak situation and determined that we needed a new faucet. We ultimately decided to order one from Amazon, and had it shipped to our campground in Bryce, UT, one of the next stops on our tour. 

Monday, June 7th, we took the morning off to do some work and other projects around the trailer. We decided to check out the San Juan National Forest in the late afternoon, for a 3.8 mile / 1100 ft. hike to Sharkstooth Pass. Appropriately named for the jagged mountain range that it weaves through, this hike was off-the-beaten-path and super scenic. 

To get to the trail head, we had to drive up to ~ 11,000 ft. in elevation, which was an adventure within itself! The road changed from paved, to gravel, and then to a very rocky road which was only passable with 4WD and a high clearance vehicle. Fortunately, Phoenix took on the challenge with grace, and we were able to park .2 miles from the trailhead, after driving over a couple of down trees, and almost getting stuck in one tricky spot. 

This was our first time hiking at such high elevations, and the terrain felt very foreign to us, compared to what we are used to hiking in the White Mountains of NH. It’s safe to say that we were both a little intimidated, however, the hike ended up going very smoothly, as we wove through giant pines and around pockets of melting snow, treading carefully so as not to posthole too deep. The last stretch of the hike switchbacks through rocky tundra, before finally arriving at Sharkstooth Pass. The pass offered incredible views of the La Plata mountain range. 

It truly felt otherworldly up there. We saw (and heard!) many groundhogs and chipmunks, chirping at us, and on the drive out spotted a deer and a moose (our first ever!) up close. A 5 star day and hike, indeed! We were sad to leave Colorado after 3 short nights, but look forward to coming back on our return route, where we will visit Rocky Mountain National Park. Hopefully by late August, we won’t be dealing with nearly as much snow!

For more photos of our adventures in Colorado, visit this link: Colorado.