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Our first stop was
at the Far View Visitor Center.
It was now about 12:00 noon. We made our way up the ramp, and went inside.
Mesa Verde offers two ranger-guided tours during the summer months. One tour takes you through Cliff Palace, the other tour takes you through Balcony House. These are pay tours that require tickets, and the tickets are purchased at the Far View Visitor Center. The Cliff Palace tour was underway, and the Balcony House tour was not scheduled to start up until May, so we only had one choice. We bought our tickets for the 2:00 pm tour, took a quick look around the displays and bookshelves in the visitor center, then headed back out to the vehicle. Jeff put on some sunscreen before we pulled out of the parking lot. I opted not to at this time. We proceeded further down the road, passing the turnoff to Wetherill Mesa just beyond the Far View Visitor Center.
As it was still
early in the season, this road was closed off. The Wetherill Mesa does
not offer as much, and it is a long drive to that area (see the map at
the top of this page and follow the road out from the left of Inset 1
and down). I have been to Wetherill Mesa
before. It has only a few ruins, of which one, called Step House, was
of interest. This would not be accessible during our time here. (Step
House is so named because the people there had created steps on the
side of a hill, like a staircase, to provide easier access between the
top of the mesa and the dwelling.)
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