Mesa Verde National Park

The drive from South Fork was very spectacular. We drove high into the Rockies and through some skiing areas. It's hard to imagine that this area is full to the brim with snow in the winter as it is full of flowers, forest and grassy areas at the moment! We stopped at an overlook with a real good vista


We saw a family of ground squirrels and a few chipmunks below the wall, they were so funny, they seemed to be begging to be fed.

We found ourselves some lodgings in a town local to the Mesa Verde National Park and got to the park about 4pm - too late to take any guided tours - the only way to get into the Pueblo Villages which are built into the cliffs. We read you have to climb up ladders to reach them - pretty scary. Anyway they are booked for tomorrow.

We spent the rest of the afternoon driving around the scenic route spotting wildlife and taking pictures of the accessable bits and the unaccessable bits from the overlooks.

A lovely lady traded photo opportunities with us and we took a picture of her and her companion and she took one of us - good work eh?

the lizard just happened along! Chris spotted the snake as we were going into the visitors centre. Ffi spotted the deer as we were leaving the park

On the way in there is a massive rock mass which overshadows everything else

The last two pictures are of the same lump of rock; one on the way in and then again on the way out with the setting sun behind it.