Mesa Verde Hiking ~ Soda Canyon & Spruce Tree House

   After a day of climbing ladders at the Balcony House, Amber and I turned our attention to another day of Mesa Verde adventure. It started with us investigating the popular Cliff Palace tour…more ladders…not really the wife's style. We skipped it and took these shots from above!

   To be honest, the make-a-reservation-and-tour-with-a-guide-and-tons-of-people thing is OK, but not really our style. Because this park is one big archeological dig, it can't really be done any other way (or it would surely be destroyed by the thousands of annual visitors). We decided to check out a nearby trail (no guide) to the Soda Canyon overlooks.

   Next we made it to the self-guided (in the summer anyway) Spruce Tree House. This 1/2 mile round trip tour starts at the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum. It's a nice cliff dwelling experience without all of the ladders and wifey feelings of death-below!

View of the Spruce Tree House from the start of the trail.

   We've got one more hike from Mesa Verde National Park coming at you this Thursday, and then we're off to some mega sand dunes in Colorado. Thanks for traveling with us!
   ~Paul & Amber   ETC