Exit78 Photo of the Day #88
Sunflowers, in Autumn, Wetherill Mesa; Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, September 27, 2015 (Pentax K-3 II)
Mesa Verde’s Wetherill Mesa is a remote, day-use only area that less than 10% of the park’s visitors ventures to. Past the parking lot at the end of 11-mile-long Wetherill Mesa Road, the mesa is only open to hiking and, on the 5-mile paved Long House Loop and marked trails, bicycles. The mesa is open from April 30 (or when road conditions permit) to October 31 (or when closed by weather/road conditions).
Mostly open except for the shelters built over archeological sites, Wetherill Mesa trails pass through areas heavily burned by the 2000 fire, with skeleton remnants of Utah juniper and Colorado pinion pine still standing. “Over 640 species of plants occur in Mesa Verde National Park. These include approximately 556 species of vascular plants, 75 species of fungi, 21 species of moss, and 151 species of lichen.” (National Park Service)
Series notes:
- The photos in this series are (usually) randomly selected from a batch of photos specifically “curated” for Exit78 Photo of the Day.
- Each photo in this series is an “original work” – a copyright term – of Michael Goad.
