The enchanting memories of the Memorial Day weekend 2015:
Mesa Verde, Great Sand Dunes and the Rio Grande National Forest
A 3 day weekend and three great places to visit. Was it a
little more than I could take? You just wish it was. I am waiting for the day
when I can say that I had an overdose of travel. That will be the day when I
can rest in thy peace but that has a long way to go.
The Memorial Day weekend of 2015 left with us many thrilling
memories to cherish and relive. We visited two National Parks and one National
forest. While the Mesa Verde National Park took us thousands of years back on
the wheel of time, the Great Sand Dunes and the Rio Grande National Forest left
us gasping for more close encounters with nature.
The Beginning: Lately every journey of ours has been
starting with a thug. So was expected from this one too. When we were about to
leave for Las Vegas about 2 months back all the highways were closed due to bad
weather and we were on the verge of cancellation of the trip. Surprisingly this
time too, we were about to cancel our trip. And was it the weather this time?
Or Roads? Or our car? Or some unexpected guest? Actually, none of the above. It
was because both of us had a bad Cat Fight. So after an hour or two of flaming
out mean words and being as sarcastic to each other as possible and almost
deciding to cancel the trip, God enlightened us and suddenly the horns on our
heads turned into a bright halo. We embraced each other, our friendship and our
relationship for the sake of travelling and “Get Set Go”. Such lightning swift
change of attitude towards each other is never possible under any other
circumstances for us.
The Route: I always say that destination is just half
the fun. It is the journey which keeps you alive and going. The journey gives
me a feeling of life, energy, fullness and vitality. We took the state highway
285 (US 285 S) and what a drive it was. The highway passes through four
national forest areas: Pikes national Forest, San Isabel National Forest, Rio
Grande and San Juan National Forest which makes the drive a delight
unsurpassed.
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The drive on US 285 |
The spring showers had turned the landscape into a bed of
green. The landscape along this highway will keep surprising you as the
mountains suddenly give way to flat green grasslands and rivers. The numerous
small and narrow black paved roads shying away from the highway and winding
mysteriously into the highlands, makes you curious to wind along with them and
explore them. We spotted deer many a times over the foothills overlooking the
highway. There are numerous ranches and pretty small towns all along the way
like Center, South Fork, Pagosa Springs etc. If I describe my visuals like a
painter it will be “In the foreground were the wooden fences of the ranches on
the lush green grassland and meadows guarding the numerous horses and other
cattle grazing away at ease.Contrasting them beautifully was a background of
blue snow covered peaks of the mountains enveloped in a sheet of grey clouds
with silver lining.”
Plan your travel in such a way that you save the sunset for
the Rio Grande and the San Juan National forest. Driving through them during
the golden hour is a nature’s spectacle not to be missed. As the sun sets, get
absorbed in sound of the gushing water through the pine forest of the Rio
Grande and the thick mist surrounding the conifers of the San Juan. Though we
were forced to move slow on most part of this highway as the roads were mostly
double lane, we did not mind the speed at all .We felt as if we had all the time
in the world driving away in this picturesque surrounding.
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The drive through San Juan National Forest |
The destinations
1. The
Mesa Verde National Park: To go to Mesa Verde National Park we had
booked our motel at Cortez as it is
the nearest town to the National Park. Just 10 miles from this small town is
the entrance and the visitor center. We had reached pretty late and while
checking in the motel we were informed that the lightning had struck and so
most of the lights and electrical connections in the rooms were not working. A
bad start huh??? Not at all …. We got a pretty good discount and who wants to go
to sleep with the lights on anyways!!!!
About Mesa Verde: If
you google, you would all find a big Wikipedia page telling you all about this
National Park. So I do not think I can add any knowledge to that. So instead of
putting down any more history, I think I will write about that sunken feeling
of being there.
Mesa Verde National park has the preserved remains of the home dwellings
of the ancient Pueblo people (the Red Indians or the Native Americans). The
moment you watch these dwellings you race thousands of years back in the wheel
of time. These are living fossils of the evolution of mankind long before the axe of civilizations dawned upon them.
The dwellings below the high cliffs or the Cliff Dwellings as they call it leave you in a state of awe and admiration. Awe because you are left to think how people would manage to climb up so high on these cliffs and construct these beautiful estates. And admiration because you realize that they were in true sense the people and the preserver of the nature, living and protected under it. It’s an awesome feeling to be standing right inside the home of some human being who lived thousands of years back. And if you are a believer of the Hindu theory of reincarnation, this could very well be your house too!!!You are in a different era. An era when most of the civilizations of the world untouched and unhurt by the brilliant yet deadening glow of modernization had lived and lived peacefully with nature.
Must Dos: There are self-guided and guided tours in the national park. Most of the c liff dwellings
are the Guided Tours. You need to buy the tickets for a ranger guided program
from the visitor center. There are limited slots and tickets for each dwelling.
So, “an early bird catches the worm!!”
A.
Balcony House: You must do one of
the cliff dwellings under the ranger guided program and my personal favorite
and pick is the spectacular “Balcony House”.
Known to be the most beautiful of all cliff dwellings, the balcony house has
more to offer than just the dwellings.
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The Balcony House |
It’s exciting because you have things to
do along with watching and admiring this beautiful dwelling. You need to climb
two long and straight wooden ladders, one to reach the Balcony house and the
other to exit.
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Climbing the Ladders in Balcony House |
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Squeezing through the small tunnel at Balcony House |
While exploring the dwelling you will also have to squeeze yourself through a small tunnel, the entrance of which is of the size of a hat.All these activities add to the fun of exploration
B.
The Spruce
Tree House: Amongst the self-guided places, I highly recommend visiting
the Spruce Tree House. You should in fact start your tour from Spruce tree
House mainly because of 2 reasons :
Ø
The museum is located just next to it. I
recommend that you should visit the museum before you visit any of the
dwellings. Yes the museums sound boring even to me and I have always avoided
them but visiting this museum before you visit any dwelling will help you visualize
graphically and understand all that you
see .And visualization is very important when you visit such places.
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The Spruce Tree House |
Ø
The beautiful Petroglyph tail head starts from here:
When you visit the Spruce tree House, you must do the Petroglyph trail. It is a
small 2 miles moderate trail loop but is very exciting and has a super view of
the Canyons. At some places the trail gets very narrow and you need to pass
through narrow gauges and cliff lines which make it exciting. A good trail for
fun and working up an appetite!!
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On the Petroglyph Trail |
The drive in and out of the national park takes around an
hour. You will witness the nature’s fierceness on the way when you see the
entire forest wiped out because of the lightning strikes and
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The Lightning Struck Trees |
1 2. The
Rio Grande National Forest: The
delectable beauty of this National Forest is hard to resist for any nature
lover. To stop here was not a part of our original itinerary but as
encompassing as it is we could not resist but include this in our itinerary on
the way back from Mesa Verde. We put up at a motel in South Fork at night and
had our dinner at Ramon’s Mexican Restaurant. I would like to give a special
mention to the restaurant for its fabulous food, service and location. Located
on a backdrop of mountain and the sound of gushing river this place is a
perfect stop if you are craving for some delicious meal at the end of a long
day.
The next morning we went for a trek on the Beaver Trail. This entire forest area
is so beautiful that you can take any trail (there are numerous) and you will
only be delighted over and over again. Take your time to stroll lightly through
the forest, smelling the pine and feeling the sun on your face.
Take breaks by the side of any lake or stream
that you pass by to enjoy the peace, silence and serenity of the woods. The
best part was that we did not find many people along the way so it was a
perfect place for some solitude. I felt that I owned everything around me. The
solitude inside me was sinking deep into some quiet, unknown land yearning to
get lost. This National Forest is an iceberg and we had just touched the tip. A
definite “To do” if you ever visit Colorado.
As I slowly started to come out of my state
of Déjà vu, we left deciding that we are definitely coming back here for more.
2 3. The
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Zapata Falls: We had more than half
a day with us when we left South Fork for the Great Sand Dunes. A couple of
friends had actually recommended that whenever we go to the Mesa Verde, we
should also go to the Great Sand Dunes. I was though not very keen, because I
had already been to Hunder in Ladhak and assumed that Great Sand Dunes would be
very much similar. But man how wrong could I be and I am so glad that we did
decide to go there.
These sand dunes are majestic. They are
huge. While you approach the National Park, you will be able to see the sand
dunes from quite some distance. DO NOT let that vision fool you. The vastness
of this land cannot even be half estimated from the distance. So hold on to all
your imaginations and wilderness till you get there.
When I reached the place I was awestruck by
its vastness. The place is a geological marvel. There is a creek, snow covered
mountain and desert all in one place. A beautiful and an amazing natural sight.
It is super fun to cross the creek to reach up to the dunes. The golden sands
were dazzling with the sunlight. Just when you feel that the sands were too hot
to bear, the sight and the cool breeze from the snow covered mountains would
cool you off. The place was buzzing with people and kids. Kids were enjoying
themselves to hell splashing in the water, slipping on the sands and sand
boarding on the slopes of the dunes.
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The distant view of the Sand Dunes |
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The Great Sand Dunes National Park |
A little away from the Sand Dunes, hidden
secretly in the lap of nature is the beautiful Zapata falls. It is a must do place if you ever visit the Sand
Dunes. After driving on an unpaved road for 3.5 miles and trekking for about a
quarter mile, you will reach the beautiful Zapata Falls.
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The Zapata Falls |
Do not worry about
your feet or shoes getting wet and walk up to the base of the falls. We were
there in June and the glacier was still melting. It is a beautiful, serene,
quiet and mystic place.
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At the base of Zapata Falls |
There is also a trail to the Zapata Lake but we were unable to do that because of paucity of time. However, I can only imagine that the lake would be as beautiful and mystic as the fall. If you have time and the stamina, I feel that you should do the Zapata lake trail too.
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Passing under a full rainbow |
