Photo Album of Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

	Hanging on the Cliffs: Mesa Verde National Park Created June 23, 2001
	Mesa Verde (Green Table in Spanish) is one of the most fascinating national parks in the U.S. It is not most famous for its natural beauty but for it archeological value. There are many ruins of cliff dwellings established by Anasazi Indians in the Park. It is interesting that they chose to build their residence hanging beneath cliffs. Besides several well-preserved archeological sites, the Park also has a small but great museum. By the way, "Mesa" here means flat-topped table mountain. As you can see, they are everywhere in the American Southwest! For more information, check their website!

	Spruce Tree House is the first cliff dwelling site we visited. It is not the largest one but is the best one which dosn't require pay extra admission fee to get in. The other two, Cliff Palace and Balcony House, require extra admission and the tickets usually sell out early.
	My friend Arthur took a peek at the ruins of Spruce Tree House. Where is the "spruce tree" anyway?
	Another corner of Spruce Tree House. It is cool down here.
	The well preserved (and roofed) ruins of ancient Indian spiritual structure is at Mesa Top loop. The circular structure at the front is remain of a town and the one at the back, semi-underground, is called "kiva".
	Cliff Palace may be the largest site in the Park but it requires extra admission (and thus a guided tour). We didn't get tickets, so we can only view it from this far. It seems that they do a great crowd control down there...
	Sun Point is a good place to view several of the less famous cliff dwellings. But in this picture, you can only see me...
	Now there's an 'unblocked' view from the Sun Point. The site is in the shade, unfortunately..
	Back to the Table of Content for 2001 American Southwest Trip

Hanging on the Cliffs: Mesa Verde National Park