This photograph gives some sense of the height of this large mesa. It is a different world up here in the clouds (at times). You look down at the more desert-like land far below. As some sense of scale, remember that those are trees down there in the foothills. To the north and to the north-east, we saw snow capped mountains in Colorado. To the south (in the direction of far-off Chaco Canyon), the land stretched out flatter and more arid in New Mexico.
The drive up here is a long climb in a vehicle. If I remember correctly, no trailers allowed nor any motorhomes over a certain length. They let us go up in the motorhome that we were transporting which was (I think) 27' or 29' in length.
Think of the Native Americans who made that climb the hard way. I bet that there were many people who lived their whole lives up here.
From what I read at the time, the Mesa Verde culture was related to the Chaco Canyon culture, but the relationship was perhaps somewhat remote due to both the horizontal distance between the two and the vertical distance (which may have been far more burdensome).
Originally the inhabitants lived in villages and farmed the open flat top of the mesa. Later, they moved into the cliff houses under the lips of the canyons that erosion cuts into the mesa. Why? Well, why do many New York City types live in vertical high rises? Possibilities include defense, views, air-conditioning, and status.
