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Day 40: Mesa Verde National Park

 

Thursday, Oct 13, 2022

My booking for the guided tour of Long House cliff dwellings was at 2pm, so I had plenty of time in the morning to explore and do a couple of short hikes. The car was also fully charged after being plugged overnight into the Tesla destination charger. I have been surprised during the trip with the low demand for the destination chargers. There were no other EVs from the 150+ rooms at the Far View Lodge. I assume this will quickly change in a few years as the number of EVs rapidly increases.

The first hike for the day was the Soda Canyon Overlook Trail, which provided a view of the Balcony House cliff dwelling across the canyon. 


After an early lunch at the Far View Terrace Cafe, I made my way to Wetherill Mesa. I did the short hike and self-guided tour of the small Step House.  I followed that up with a walk through the ruins of the Badger House Community.

 

 

 

 

The Long House tour was well worth the wait. The forest ranger who led the tour was great, went through the history, told lots of stories with a good sense of humor, and explained things well. 

Over 150 people lived in the Long House cliff dwelling around 1200 AD.  It was also a public gathering place for the surrounding communities.

 

 


After the Long House tour was finished, I left the Mesa Verde National Park and made my way towards the Four Corners Monument.  This is the only place in the US where 4 states meet at one point. It is also the place where I had planned to touch Utah for my token visit to the state. Unfortunately, when I reached the entrance gate of the monument, I found it had closed for the day. I was within 2000 feet of Utah, close but no cigar!  I could take a detour of a couple of hours to touch Utah in another place, but that did not seem worth it, plus I did not have enough charge left in the Tesla to be able to do it.  So, I declared this locked gate as touching Utah and drove on to my hotel in Chambers, Arizona.

The raw numbers for the day:

  • 278 miles driving, 16200 steps walking
  • 1 Tesla supercharger stop, previous night level 2 charging at hotel
  • 4 states - Colorado, Utah?, New Mexico, Arizona

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