We bought a lot of books in Mesa Verde National Park, partly because there’s not much to do after nightfall, and partly because the ruins are so interesting that you feel compelled to learn as much as you can about them. It’s a strange park, Mesa Verde; it’s the only one in the National Park Service that’s organized around ruins rather than natural scenery. At first glance from your “hotel” (translation: motel) room at Farview Lodge there’s just a long expanse down the mesa toward the canyons, and on a clear day you can see Shiprock, 65 miles away. The fascination lies in the solitude; the entry road to the park winds up and around in a way that teases the traveler. The park reveals its secrets gradually – you don’t see any ruins until you’ve driven in at least 10 miles or so (and the really dramatic ruins are all the way at the ends of the peninsular mesa tops, looking down into the canyons that make the southern edge of the mesa look like a many-fingered hand). Something about it makes you want to know more. How were the ruins started? How did the park come to be?

This book, Mesa Verde: Shadows of the Centuries tells the story of the original stories, and of the founding of the park. What’s more, it brings all the characters involved with the process to life. It was recommended to me by the ranger that took us on both our excursions (Cliff Palace and Balcony House). It confirmed something that I suspected – that the arduous and sometimes hair-raising trip up to the mesa (now made easier by the modern highway, but it’s still hair-raising for flatlanders) is part of the classic experience shared with travelers since the beginning of the park. And the ladder-climbing and tunnel-squeezing is also part of that classic experience – we follow in the footsteps of ladies in long divided skirts and sensible lace-up boots, and cowboys in their own kind of boots, and dudes in 19th-century traveling clothes.

The story of the park’s beginning was the story of personalities, and now I have a greater appreciation for the heavy toil, years of committment, and incessant politicking that was required to make Mesa Verde a part of the National Parks.

I enjoyed this book very much, because it added to my understanding of Mesa Verde – a very special place.