Creede, Co to Lake City, Co

Gary and I took a drive over route 149 from Creede, Co to Lake City, Co. We stopped a few places to take a few pictures. Very enjoyable drive. We arrived in Lake City and walked into a few stores. Had lunch at Poker Alice's.



This is the Weminuche Wilderness.


North Cedar Creek falls, the most photographed falls of Colorado.


Lake San Cristobal, second largest natural lake in Colorado. Water sure was beautiful.

Bachelor Historic Tour, Creede, Colorado

Sherri is taking a basket class and woodburning class while we are here in Creede. Gary and I have been enjoying the mining town and taking some driving tours. We took the mine tour, $6 per person, and really enjoyed it. Sherri, Gary, and I have been to the Creede Repertory Theatre two times. We enjoyed both shows. Sherri and I have really enjoyed the homemade fudge. A couple more visits and we will have enjoyed every flavor they make. Gary has been fishing but has to drive about 20 miles in order to bait fish as most of the places on the Rio Grande River are artificial lures only. The pictures below were taken on our drive of the Bachelor Historic Tour. Beautiful drive.





Beaver dam.

Tough leaved iris

Mesa Verde national park

Wow is about the best word I can find to describe Mesa Verde National Park. We spent 2 days in the park and could have spent more time. Once you pass the entrance point, it is 15 miles to the visitor center where you can purchase tickets for 3 tours that are offered. We chose to take the Cliff Palace and Long House Tours. We did the Cliff Palace tour the first day and the Long House Tour the second day. Cost of tours was $3 per person. There are lots of things to see that do not cost you anything. There is a restaurant at the Spruce Tree House location, other than that, you should plan on a picnic. No place to buy gas, so make sure your tank is full before you go. Be sure to wear good shoes if you plan on going on the tours, as you will encounter steps and some steep paths.


This is Spruce Tree House. You walk a steep path down to visit the area. This is free.


The upper rooms were for food storage.


These vessels are canteens.


Took this from the entrance booth while Gary was purchasing his Senior pass. Yes, Gary is now 62. We will now be able to visit all the national parks for free and camp for half price in the national forest campgrounds. Of course, I took lots of pictures which you can see by clicking here.

Cliff Palace, House of many Windows

View of Cliff Palace from tour starting point.


Cliff Palace. We climbed the two ladders you can see on the right.


We climbed the ladder to get out of the canyon.


House of many windows.

Square Tower House


Navajo Canyon


Pit House


Heman Way House

Mesa Verde

Mummy House

Fire House

Oak tree house

Sun Temple

Far View Community, Mesa Verde

Stone houses






As you can see, the Far House Community is still inhabited.

This is the Kodak House.

View of Long House from turn out.

This is the path we took to get to the long house.


Looking down into a Kiva. The Kiva had a roof over it. On the left you will see the ventilator (hole). In front of the ventilator, you can see the air deflector. Behind the air deflector is the fire pit. Behind the fire pit is the sipapu, or symbolic entrance to the underworld. Kiva is a Hopi word for ceremonial room.

Long House Tour, Mesa Verde

Gary and I took the Long House guided tour. The cost for the tour was $3 per person. To reach Long House, you take a tram then walk down stairs and then switch back paths to the House. The walk is 3/4 of a mile. Once you get to the Long House you actually get to go behind the walls. We thought that this was the best tour to take.


This is a view of the Long House from one of the overlooks.


We climbed these ladders to view some of the rooms.


This was their water collection system. The water would flow from the rocks then fill up the holes.

Views from Mesa Verde

We enjoyed pulling over at the various turn-outs to look at the valleys around Mesa Verde.







This was our campgound.