Mesa Verde National Park, CO - UNESCO World Heritage Site

 Place: Mesa Verde National Park, CO

Weather: Generally sunny, 47/78F.

Route: From Chaco Canyon 159 miles NNE on US-550 N, NM-574 N, CO-140 N, US-160 W.

Significance: There are three UNESCO World Heritage Sites I'll be visiting in this part of the country. They share in common an advanced culture, but the places and building techniques varied. Mesa Verde is best known as where the famous cliff dwellings are located. Cliff dwellings doesn't really do them justice though - they aren't just some cave on the side of a cliff - they were huge buildings - as many as 100 rooms per dwelling.  The area also includes farming terraces, dams, and art painted on the sides of the cliffs.

Websites: UNESCO World Heritage Site, National Park Service.

Video: 

Images:

One of the larger dwellings (from usatoday.com)

This shows more of the landscape (from theknow.denverpost.com)