We both got a good nights’ sleep after the long involved day. We didn’t have to get up as early since our tour of the Long House wasn’t scheduled until 11 AM.
The temp had dropped into the 50’s and the sky was overcast. A good day for a long hike. We left around 9AM and once again there was little to no traffic so we were early for the tour.
The ranger recommended we take the one-mile trail loop to the Step House. Again there were steep steps and grades down to the Step House.
After completing our tour we headed back to the pick up point to catch the tram to the trail to Long House.
While waiting for the Tram there were two beautiful wild horses eating nearby. There are herds of wild horses that live on the Mesa.
Another long downhill trek.
Longhouse has 150 individual rooms
Another two 14 foot ladders to climb. In our group was a 79 year old woman who made the climb. She received a resounding applause from the group when she reached the top.
Our tour guide was Park Ranger, Adrienne Foster, who just happened to be from Maine. She has a Masters in Social Anthropology and is leaving next month for a two year stint in the Peace Corps. Her goal is to become a full time Park Ranger. She was certainly well versed in the history of the cliff dwellers and made the tour very interesting and fun.
View inside Long House. Grinding stones left behind.
After completing the tour of Long House and the hike back up to the Tram we toured several other excavation sites.
View of Longhouse from an overlook
We stopped and had a picnic lunch with the view of the valley below us.
We ended our day around 3:30 PM. Early for us. Back at the MH we caught up on some cleaning and organizing that we had been neglecting.
Later we went to a ranger talk but it got rained out so we were back at the MH by 9:30 PM. Bed seemed a good option so off we went. A good end to a great day.
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