I expected Mesa Verde to be exactly as I remembered it; after all, it’s an archaeological site thousands of years old. What could have changed?
Well, as it turns out, not much, but what DID change was pretty interesting. Apparently they’ve done some research in the past few years which suggests that some of the cliff dwellings (in particular, Cliff Palace) served mainly ceremonial purposes, rather than being a permanent home for people. The area that is now the park once was home to around 5000 people. Cool stuff.
I definitely remembered the crazy switchbacks on the way into the park. The campground was at around 7500 feet, and the rest of the park goes up another 1200 feet or so from that. Made for some great photos — and some general headiness as I got used to the altitude.
One of the eeriest bits of the park experience was driving through the forests that burned in the big fires of 1998 and 2000. Whole miles of park were scoured, leaving only the skeletal remains of trees. The NPS is learning a lot about fire management — most notably, the fact that small fires every now and then lead to fewer big fires overall — but it’s hard not to think that fires of any size should be stopped, particularly seeing what they leave behind.
P.S. It already takes forever to upload photos, so captions are going to have to wait until I’m somewhere I don’t have to pay for an Internet connection. 
However, it is worth mentioning that the deer in that one photo was, in fact, in my campsite.