RV'ing

A Petrified Forrest and Cliff Dwellings

November 19, 2020 - By Jill

Last Updated on October 19, 2023 by Jill

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Today we are leaving the Grand Canyon for A Petrified Forrest and Cliff Dwellings. After pulling out of the Grand Canyon around 8 am we headed for the Petrified Forrest National Park. We arrived around 1130am. The Petrified Forrest consists of a road that has turn-offs that you can drive into and see some of the petrified trees. There are also trails that take you farther into the desert. We did not do any of the trails it was well into the 100’s when we arrived. Instead, we picked several spots to pull off and check out and then headed to Mesa Verde.

We found a great spot to park the R.V. right off of county road 34. It was a quiet sight that had plenty of space and best of all was free. After getting settled we had some dinner and then turned in. The next day we were going to do the Canyon of the Ancients and Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings.

Canyon of the Ancients

Have you heard of this place? It seems to be a hidden gem. Most of the people we have chatted with about it had not been and hadn’t even heard of it. What a great discovery. Dave saw a sign for it as we were coming into Colorado yesterday so we looked it up and decided it should be our first visit of the day.

This area is 176,000 acres of protected federal land. It was designated on June 9, 2000. What has been uncovered there is truly remarkable to see. The Native American cultures of the Pueblo and others are very interesting. We drove into Utah and saw the Hovenweep National Monument. We checked out others as well but this one was the most memorable. It was very impressive to see. We were able to take the dogs on the trail and went most of the way. It was fascinating to see the homes built under boulders.

Well, it was about lunchtime when we finished all of our tours. So, we decided to stop in town and have lunch at a local brewery called Mainstreet Brewery. Good beer and food.

Mesa Verde National Park

After lunch, we drove up to the Mesa Verde National Park to check out the cliff dwellings. The guided tours to go into some of the more elaborate dwellings were closed due to COVID (thanks China), But, the self-guided tours were supposed to be open for some of the smaller ones. What a great drive, we saw a lot of cliff dwellings just steps from our car.

Once we got to the area of the self-guided tours we, unfortunately, found out as we were heading down to them that they had also closed the self-guided tours due to COVID (thanks China). What a disappointment! Don’t get me wrong we saw a lot of them with our zoom lens on our camera but you just don’t get to grasp the perspective. Standing inside one is one thing I really wanted to do. I wanted to be in it and understand the height and structure of the dwellings. But, not gonna happen. Another time perhaps.