Today we toured the “quieter side” of Mesa Verde. Our first hike was a tour of Mug House. Each year the park designates a few of the 900+ alcove sites for a special tour. This helps to preserve them by limiting the number of people who enter them. This year it was Mug House’s turn. The site gets its name from a set of three completely intact mugs that were found hanging from a yucca fiber rope in one of the rooms.
We had all been looking forward to this tour since there would only be 5 other people with us rather than the 50 that are on each of the other tours we had completed. We met ranger Lu Ann and she brought us to the site while showing off several other nearby caves on the way in. While the houses all have many similarities each tour that we took gave us additional information that helped us better understand how it was unique from the others and how the entire system worked together.
We also toured Step House, known for the stairs coming down the cliffside in stark contrast to the toe and hand holds found at the other sites. A group who had been there just moments before us hand discovered a piece of 800 year old corn cob that the ranger let us hold. Then, after PBJ&C, toured Long House, which I think was the one everyone in our family would have chosen to live in. It’s natural spring and large central dance plaza made it an appealing home.
It was a long day and I am exhausted, but did want to mention that we made it back to Moose & More and discovered Pepperhead. Pepperhead’s food, drinks, and service were fabulous. As we finished our meals the table next to us received theirs and even though we were all stuffed I think we all wanted a taste of the things we hadn’t tried yet. There is some fabulous dining here in Cortez, hopefully we’ll return soon to taste it all again!
Tomorrow morning we leave the desert. It’s crazy that think that we’re already almost at the halfway point of the trip. As we make the transition from desert to mountain though we’re all full of good memories, good food, and with anticipation of what’s still to come – good vibrations.
