The roads in this UNESCO World Heritage Site are open from 7:30 a.m. until sunset, and Ranger David Franks, whom we probably met in front of the Ranger Station next to the archaeological museum up above, also ensures that no one gets lost. Only the Visitor Center was closed, and a visitor said in passing that there was more snow here than there had been in 8(0) years. After cattle farmers first drew attention to it in 1888, researchers found 4,000 archaeological sites on this enormous table mountain. The steep eastern slopes of the mesa were covered in snow and we drove along the North Rim and then over the Chapin Mesa about 38 km directly to Cliff Palace. The Cliff Palace Loop, about 10 km long, is closed in winter, according to the travel guide and brochures, and opens at the beginning of April, and only for booked tours. The rangers must have turned a blind eye to this. An estimated 100 to a maximum of 200 people of the Anasazi people lived in the bricked rooms of this 88 m long and 18 m high rock niche from 1190 to around 1300. However, this area was inhabited much earlier, as the excavation of pit houses from around 600 revealed. Several of them were open to visitors under tarpaulins. We also hardly met any visitors at the Balcony House on the opposite side of the loop, whose approx. 45 rooms were only excavated in 1910, and at the Oak Tree House right next to it, both of which were inhabited at the same time as the Cliff Palace. With a guided tour, you would have been able to enter the dwellings via a ladder and a tunnel, for example. We drove back to the start of this loop and turned onto the Mesa Top Loop, which is also around 10 km long. Our destination was a so-called Sun Temple, which was built from around 1200 and poses many mysteries. This is where people from the surrounding rock villages met, perhaps to observe the movement of the stars. The road to the neighboring Weatherhill Mesa was still closed. On the long way back - we reached an altitude of over 2500 m three times - we were accompanied by sun-drenched mist between the sugar-coated mountain slopes. After a good 100 km, as if guided by magic - OK, with GPS - we found our Econo Lodge Inn in Durango on the straightest route, and at exactly 6 o'clock, just in time for dinner. Today, at least for me, there was poutine, a specialty of Canadian origin with potato wedges, cheese curds and gravy on top, and Californian red wine of the Cabernet Sauvignon variety - excellent.