We were up at on the way early today. The Wetherill Mesa is not open all the time. I have not been here when it was open so this was an opportunity but we had tickets for a 12:30 tour so we had to go early as it is 45 minutes drive one way and an hour back to the tour site. This is a remote section where you drive on several “knife edge” ridges. When we arrived, we walked to several pit houses AD 600, a pueblo AD 800, and an overlook to another interesting cliff dwelling. We tried another hike but were out of time. So back to the main center where we had time to glance around the museum and then on to our tour. The tour is down a couple hundred feet - steps and trail and up a ladder to the largest of the cliff dwellings, Cliff Palace. A name the guide disliked as it was never anything other than a large housing complex. It is so neat to hear the lecture of the well-versed guide while standing in the midst of the dwelling. Getting out after is a neat part of the experience too, as you go up very narrow stairs set in crevices along the rock and up three ladders. Off to lunch and then back for a lecture about the Spruce Tree House. It is currently closed as they are trying to secure the rock “ceiling” above the dwelling and have not been successful for 10 years. They are ready to try another “fix.” We had walked about 7 miles at this point and so we called it a day and ate leftovers in the room. Tomorrow we head East.
