Utah 2023: With a side of Mesa Verde

 Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Day 3 in Moab was to be a nice bike ride out Potash Road, the paved portion. But day 3 brought wind with gusts up to 50 mph. Ride bikes? No thanks. We were also were leaving Moab on this day, but didn’t want to spend to whole day in Green River (our overnight spot). What to do? Tammy had mentioned Mesa Verde in Colorado. Yeah it was a several hours drive to get there, but we had all day. So off we went to Mesa Verde National Park.


Colorado hadn’t been in the plan. It was an interesting drive if only because we hadn’t been here before and it was new to us. I’ve always wanted to see Mesa Verde and while it was early in the season and sadly, tours of the actual site hadn’t opened yet, it did not disappoint. Very cool to see the site of this little village under the cliff. It was not as I expected. I thought it was precariously carved into a cliff face with a giant drop off into a canyon. That isn’t quite the case. While it is carved into the cliff under an overhang it doesn’t just drop off into empty space. There appears to be a garden like area just below the buildings. It’s a beautiful setting for this ancient little village. We definitely have to return for a tour. 


Mesa Verde



Balcony House (I think)

Sculpture at Mesa Verde

The return to Moab was uneventful, though the wind had picked up and definitely here to kick up the dust. We drove Potash road to where the pavement ends. It’s a beautiful drive and would be fantastic to ride. I might have been a little obsessed with the petroglyphs along the drive. 


Petroglyphs and more petroglyphs






Potash Road along the Colorado River





Afterwords we left Moab amidst a full blown dust storm and spent the night in Green River to get a head start on the next leg of our journey.

Dusty drive to Green River


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