Mesa Verde National Park is a place that we really wanted to visit, although it is quite a popular tourist attraction. This famous place is a large archaeological park with many cliff dwellings erected by the Ancestral Puebloans who lived there between AD 550 and 1300. We spent the whole day exploring the most impressive dwellings. The day was hot, with a complete lack of humidity in the air causing a constant thirst in our throats. We drank gallons of water. Early in the afternoon, we went back to our tent in National Park campground.