Phil's Trail in Cortez, CO

Mesa Verde National Park

The german soccer team played in the morning so we watched it, Germany won 4:1 against England, amazing. Well, there was also luck involved but still, 4:1 at a world cup against England is not bad.

By the time we were on the trail, around 11 am, it was already pretty hot. The trails were still pretty amazing and flowy.

Can you see him?

More riding pictures.

As I said, fast and flowy. Would be perfect for night riding in the winter.

Later on we went to the Mesa Verde National Park. It is a high plateau. That's how a forest looks 10 years after a fire.

That is the plateau, in the back you can see Cortez.

And that's what Mesa Verde is famous for. Until 800 years ago or so there were people living here. They built small communities into the rocks and caves, pretty amazing. Why they left is not clear but it is assumed that a change in climate and precipitation was one of the reasons. They left within 50 years or so. In total 6000 people lived around the Mesa Verde Plateau.

They were pretty good builders.

Cozy!

At some locations you weren't allowed to drive around so we went on a safari, pretty nice not to have to drive and just sit back.

The communities were around 3 miles apart or so. There were also settlements on top of the plateau.

Since it snows in the winter up there and in the summer it gets pretty hot those caves gave pretty good protection of the elements.

Later on on the plateau some wild horses.

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