Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

These photographs are from a summer visit Mesa Verde National Park. The park was established in 1906 to protect an extensive set of cliff dwellings, pueblo ruins, and pit houses. There are ranger led tours of some of the cliff dwelling and self-guided tours of some other cliff dwelling and the other forms of dwellings. One of the tours that my wife and I took was an evening tour of Cliff Palace. For the evening tours, the ranger plays the role of a character from the past. On our tour, the ranger played Gustaf Nordenskiold who was an archeologist that performed the first scientific studies of Mesa Verde in 1891. There are quite a lot of cliff dwellings that can be viewed from various overlooks around the park. If you like to see and explore ancient ruins, I highly recommend visiting this national park.

Wall and cave from inside Long House
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM at 16mm
Exposure: 1/320 second at f/8, ISO 100

Long House and ladders
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM at 33mm
Exposure: 1/125 second at f/5.6, ISO 100

Long House
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM at 27mm
Exposure: 1/125 second at f/5.6, ISO 200

Interior walls and window in Long House
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM at 25mm
Exposure: 1/80 second at f/5.6, ISO 400

Ladder and wall remnant in Long House
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM at 35mm
Exposure: 1/125 second at f/5.6, ISO 200

Cliff Palace from overlook
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM at 16mm
Exposure: 1/60 second at f/8, ISO 100

Spruce Tree House
Lens: Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM at 34mm
Exposure: 1/40 second at f/8, ISO 100

Interior panorama of Spruce Tree House (made from 8 photographs)
Lens: Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM at 34mm
Exposure: 1/40 second at f/8, ISO 100

Photographer: Rick Scott
Date: 21-24 June 2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D digital camera
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS5 for RAW conversion and image processing, PTgui with Panorama Tools for panorama stitching.

Updated: 18 July 2011