It was in August 1874, when a pioneer photographer named William Henry Jackson was photographing in the mountains northeast of Mesa Verde. There he met an old friend who introduced him to John Moss, who had spent several years exploring in the Mesa Verde area. Then, Moss provided a guide service to Jackson and lead him to the ancient sites in Mancos Canyon. This is when Jackson entered Two Story House and took the first photographs of a cliff dwelling in the Mesa Verde area. These photographs are what started all the attention that was soon after to be given to these ancient ruins.

Soon after those photos were published, many began to petition the government for federal protection to these ruins, while many were collecting and selling artIfacts from the many cliff dwelling sites.

By 1900, bills began to be introduced before Congress to create Colorado Cliff Dwellings National Park, but the time was not right just yet. Another four bills were introduced but each time, the bills failed to be ratified. Then in 1905, a bill for the creation of Mesa Verde National Park was in introduced and was subsequently passed, creating the national park.

With his signature, President Theodore Roosevelt created the first national park of its kind on 29 June 1906, and he did so to preserve these ancient works of man.

In the 1930, Franklin Roosevelt′s New Deal program brought the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to Mesa Verde. The CCC and other depression era efforts employed young men and women to build trails and roads, operate switchboards, help in archaeological excavations, fight fires, build park buildings, and create museum exhibits.

Sometime after 500 CE, about 1,500 years ago and a thousand years before any Europeans explored North America, a group of people living who arrive after the second migration across the Bering Land Bridge in the Four Corners region chose the mesas and in the cliffs along side the valleys below Mesa Verde for their home. For more than 700 years the Anasazi indigenous people and their descendants lived and flourished here, eventually building elaborate stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls.

Then, in the late 1200s CE, in the span of a generation or two, they left their homes and moved away. What we have left is only a reminder of this amazing ancient community.

Mesa Verde was established as a national park in 1906 but it was not until five years later during 1911 that the Knife Edge trail was made into a road. Although scenic, this new road was narrow, steep and difficult to maintain due to the instability of the mountain soil. In 1913, a very long bypass was built down through Morefield canyon, over Morefield ridge and then back up Prater canyon to reach the park road and when the first vehicle used the bypass in 1914, the Knife Edge road was close. However, the scenic value of the Knife Edge Road prompted the park to reopen it in 1924 and the bypass road was closed.

The Knife edge road continued to challenge the park road crews for the next 33 years until the Morefield-Prater tunnel was completed through the Morefield ridge. Then this new route through the tunnel was open for the park visitors to use. The route that passes Morefield campground and drives up Morefield canyon to this tunnel is the very same entrance road we use today.

Today, you can walk from Morefield Campground on a one mile out and one mile back on the old roadbed through a low pass then gently down across a steep slope. The Knife Edge trail is one with views across Montezuma Valley towards Sleeping Ute Mountain to the west.

The Knife Edge trail does not continue to the junction at Montezuma Overlook but stops before crossing the west talus slope, in fact, there are signs posted prohibiting hiking on the west talus slop.

Arise, dress and then turn on my computer to check com and update my journal. At seven-thirty this morning, I drive to Morefield Villiage for a hot shower. When I am finished, I begin the drive into the park to the museum so that I can purchase tour tickets. Arriving at the museum, I walk up to the desk and acquire three tickets, one for Cliff Palace at noon, one for Balcony House at one-thirty and another for Long House on the far western mesa top tomorrow at twelve-thirty.

Cliff Palace is the one ancient ruin that is probably the most known ruin of them all. Too, like the Balcony House, this is not the first time that I have toured these ruins, in fact I have been to both twice before.

Too, I learned at the museum that some of the ruins are crumbling and are going through another series of restorations work to prevent the ruins and the cliffs above from collapsing.

Balcony House is another one of the ruins that will soon be closed so that the overhanging cliff can be worked on in order to prevent it from collapsing onto the ruins.

I do hope they are able to shore it up because this is my favorite tour of all the ones that I have taken.

Awake, rise and driver to the shower house. After taking a hot shower, I return back into the park and this time head to the Wetherill Mesa to visit Long House ruins. In the three previous visits to Mesa Verde, I have yet to visit this mesa and everything in this area is new to me.

Yesterday, when I purchased my tour tickets, I also purchased one for Long House to view today.

I stop at Mesa Verde arriving in the late afternoon, drive past the campground, then drive through a long tunnel through the Morefield ridge and stop at the opposite side for a photo.

When I continue into the park, I next come to Montezuma Valley overlook which has a kiosk with reader boards telling of the original park entrance, the Knife Edge.

Soon after that, I stop at the visitors center, a large round house to schedule a tour of the Cliff Palace ruins and since my tour is not until tomorrow morning, I drive to the Spruce Tree House, a very large cliff dwelling that has a self guided tour.

This cliff dwelling has 114 rooms and eight Kivas all within a natural sandstone cave 89 feet deep by over 200 feet wide.

This site probably was the home of 100 or more people. I begin to explore and I am only at Spruce tree for an hour before the park rangers begin to close the ruins for the evening.

I am, however, able to take several photos.

The last time I visited Mesa Verde, I awoke with snow on the ground, but this day begins with a beautiful sunrise even though I am not up early enough to record with my camera. Immediately, I begin my breakfast of coffee, oatmeal with raisins and of course molasses. Then I begin my drive to the visitor's center to get a ticket for the tour of Balcony House, the one immediately after the Cliff Palace tour.

As I drive to Cliff Palace, I see a lot of animals, first a coyote, then a couple of wild horses and finally a herd of deer.

Because I arrive thirty minutes before the tour begins, I work on my journal for a short time before grabbing my camera and locking the jammer.

From the parking lot, I walk down to the trail head to wait for the tour to begin. From the top of the canyon, at the Cliff Palace observation viewpoint, I take a wide photo of Cliff Palace.

The ranger arrives, collects the ticket and then gives the group an introductory presentation which includes some things that visitors must not do. The ranger unlocks the gate and we then begin to wind out way down the steps and pathway into the canyon towards the ruins.

While we walk down the trail towards the first stop, we come around a corner and the ruins come into view, from which point, I continue to take photos of the ruins.

We then come to a sign which states, Please Wait for Ranger Here, as which time we are close enough to the site that I can begin taking photos, many during which I zoom into some of the various areas of the ruins. Other photo of an area that only comes in view as I become closer to the site.

Continuing closer, I am so awed by the immensity of this ancient city and can only imagine all the goings on that was part of life here many long centuries past.

After we arrive at the site, we continue across the front of the ruins on the walkway where we are looking upward into to ruins.

After only a few steps, I come to the stair steps were, in 1980, I sat upon to sketch the ruins in my art book. I walk down the steps, across the bottom and back up on the opposite side, where, I turn around and begin taking photos of the ruins from this side.

Then, the tour continues southward across the rest of the ruins and we come to the square tower where we are allowed to lean in through the window to look inside and upwards to the top where I see several pieces of artwork on the walls

Unbeknownst to me during this year′s visit, the art paintings in this tower are pictograph that were used by the ancients to keep track of the predictable astronomical phenomena, specifically the Lunar Saros and Solar Saros.

I continue south from the square tower along the walkway and pass through an area with three open top Kivas. The middle one is the largest and I take the rear passage behind this large Kiva but I soon come to a wall blocking access to go further.

However, there is a window in the wall with a very nice view.

In order to exit from the window, I need to back track around the Kiva, drop down one level to the front walk way and follow it around towards the third Kiva.

In the back of the third Kiva is the makings of a second tower connected to the same structure as the square tower and from the side, there is access to see up into this tower.

After looking at this tower, the walk way leads southward and begins the exit from the ruins.

The entire time that we were touring the ruins, not counting the two access trails, was about one hour. I wish that it was longer but even so, I was able to take a large number of photos for my photo page.

Too, I know that I will return here in the future for additional tours.

After the Cliff Palace tour ends, I return to the jammer and leave out towards my next tour at the Balcony House. I arrive and meet the tour group and soon, we begin walking the trail to the ladder, Wow, and what a latter!

We then assemble in the first balcony and the ranger tells us about the piece of real estate.

The ranger tells us that there is a small window on the far wall next to the balcony rain, that we should go there and look through the window and you will get a preview of the second bacony.

Then we climb up and over a large rock and come to the rear of the alcove where we find a tunnel which the ranger says is the walkway between the different pieces of real estate. We continue through the walkway and come out into the second balcony.

Once we are all on the second balcony, we listen to the ranger tell us about the different size rooms and what each size might be used for.

I begin taking photos of the area, which has two Kivas and numerous rooms.

We then come to the end of the balcony house and I see that deck leads south to the exit.

I stop, turn around and take several more photos from this angle including the magnificent view across the canyon.

We walk a little way further and come to what appears to be a blocked passage, with only a very small hole at the bottom.

The ranger assures us that even though we have to crawl on our hands and knees, we will all be able to make it through the exit.

Then, he tells us the story of how this doorway was built so that an old woman with a pointed stick could successfully guard the entrance from any enemy. He explained that inside the small room is a large rock for the guard to sit atop and from this vantage point above, she could stab anyone who would crawl through from the outside.

When I crawl through, I agree that a lot of thought went into this critical defense entrance.

Outside this defensive entrance, I see that anyone who would come in this way would need to enter on their hands and knees and crawl for several feet, making them vulnerable to a pointed stick wielding old woman.

Then the ranger climbs a set of steps leading up form the exit, steps which like the tall entrance ladder were added at a later time by the national park.

Climbing up the steps ends the tour and this tour not including the entrance and exit trail lasted just a little over thirty minutes.

The remainder of this day, I spend driving to and exploring many more of the sites within the national park where one can tour without a guide.

The sites that I visit and photograph include: Pithouse (600 CE); Navajo Canyon Overlook; Square Tower House Overlook (1200-1300 CE); Mesa Top Sites (900-1100 CE); Sun Point View (1200-1300 CE); Oak Tree House (1250 CE); Fire Temple-New Fire House (1250 CE); Sun Temple (1250 CE); Far View Site (1100-1300 CE); Megalithic House (900-1300 CE); Coyote Villiage (975-1250 CE).

Park Point Fire Lookout Tower is the highest point in the park at the elevation of 8572 feet and with the creation of Mesa Verde National Park in 1906 came the recognitions that the park atop this mountain has "one of the grandest and most extensive view in the country."

However, it has been my experience that the view is highly dependant upon the magnitude of the airborne dust particles, smoke, moisture and human pollutants that fill the air around the national park. Further, weather inversions can trap these particles under a layer of dense air, which can reduce air quality even more.

For instance, Ship Rock, a prominent volcanic rock structure in New Mexico which is about 46 miles as the crow flies south by southwest of Park Point Fire tower was once an easy point to identify on the horizon as shown by the next photo which was taken of an information kiosk.

There is no telling how long ago when the viability was this clear.

Today, before I leave the park, I stop at the top of Park Point Lookout to see if I can see the Ship Rock. The next two photos are what I found as the visibility for viewing this grandest and most extensive view in the country.

I say, Truly, we need the Kingdom of God to bring the paradise.

Two days here have given me much knowledge of the Indians who lived here long ago. The land is very rugged and high in elevation, thus I was very tired from the walks on the trails I have taken.

I had awaken yesterday morning to find it had snowed during the night. The table I was sleeping on remained dry under my poncho, so I slept good. Both days were spent touring the Chapin Mesa with Thomas, a fellow from Germany doing similar to what I am doing, only when he arrived in the US, he bought a station wagon for him to tour about in.

We toured the Cliff Palace together and when we arrived here, I sat on the steps, opened my sketch book and began drawing what I was seeing. Later, I cropped in a background from a photo that I had taken.