Our Moab Fun

To say we spent a lot of time in the southwest corner of  Colorado this fall; would be an understatement. Every chance we got - we would run away from the chaos of Moab to the quaint, tiny town of Cortez, Colorado. The number of permanent residents is 50% higher in Cortez than Moab but it's 100%  more peaceful than Moab, 10 months out of the year. Technically the  entrance  to Mesa Verde is 15 minutes  past  Cortez- in Mancos, Colorado. After that -  it's a  45-minute  drive from the gate 'to the good stuff.' I promise you - it's 100% worth the drive to go back 1200+ years in history! 😀 not to mention - the route is pretty breathtaking anytime the trail begins by leading you down a cliffside, walking amongst the top of the trees ; you just know it's going to be a good hike.  (at least in my book 😉) A ranger told us that almost 60% of Mesa Verde open forest is covered in burn scars.  such a sad, scary statistic of life in the open desert.