• View of Spruce Tree House from overlook

    Mesa Verde

    National Park Colorado

Enrichment Package: Activity 5 -- On Your Way To The Park

This activity focuses on basic math and observational skills in relation to your trip to the park and reinforces the use of mathematics for gaining information that is relevant to everyday life.

| Printer friendly version (pdf, 39 kb) |

 
Separator bar with triangles
 

Follow the directions and answer the questions below.

1.

Before your trip, ask the bus driver to give you the beginning mileage on the bus odometer.
2.

Record the time you left for Mesa Verde.
3.

Using a map, determine the distance to Mesa Verde.
4.

What general direction must you travel to reach Mesa Verde?
5.

What is the most common use of land along the way to Mesa Verde?
6.

Just beyond the entrance to the park, there is a sign listing the fire danger for the day. What is the fire danger today?
7.

Name three mountain groups you see from the Montezuma Overlook (mile 6.2).
8.

Name the most common broadleaf tree you find in the park.
9.

Keep a tally of the number of birds and animals you see and identify them if you can.

Birds ____________________ Animals ___________________
10.

Stop at Park Point, the highest location in Mesa Verde (mile 10.1). What is the elevation?
11.

Record the time you arrive at the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum at Mesa Verde.
12.

Note the time you started your trip (see your answer for #2). How long did it take to get to Mesa Verde?
13.

Ask your bus driver to give you the ending mileage on the bus odometer while at the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum.
14.

Calculate the number of miles you have traveled from your school to the park?
15.

How does your answer compare with the number of miles you obtained from the map? (see your answer for #3.)
16.

Can you figure out the average miles per hour you traveled during your trip to Mesa Verde? (Hint: Total number of miles traveled divided by total time traveled.)


«Answers to Activity 5: On Your Way To The Park»

Did You Know?

View of mesas

The Ancestral Puebloans inhabited Mesa Verde for more than 700 years (550 A.D. to 1300 A.D.), but for the first six centuries, they primarily lived on the mesa tops.  It was not until the final 75 to 100 years that they constructed and lived in the cliff dwellings for which Mesa Verde is known.