During our trip to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks we made a quick day trip to Mesa Verde. This breaks my normal rule of 3 day minimum per park to count as a visit. However, everyone wanted to see the park and we were “close enough” so I guess we will count it.
Mesa Verde is not only an American National Park but also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s located in South Western Colorado in Montezuma County. Established by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 the park has over 5,000 and 600 cliff dwellings making it the largest archaeological preserve in the United States. This area was the ancestral home of the Pueblo people.
The Park Visitors Center is close to the entrance to the park, from there as you go into the park, the main road climbs a number of mountains and runs along top of the Mesas. At Far View Lodge (the only hotel in the park itself) the road splits to Wetherill Mesa and Chapin Mesa.
Along all the roads there are pulls off and overlooks with stunning views of the Valley and Canyons below. From these overlooks you can also see many of the ancient ruins. There are many places to explore on your own, Pit Houses and Villages, Sun Temple, Cedar Tree Tower, Badger House Community, Step House, and so on. We did not have time to explore all the wonderful things here. You would need a few days or more to really explore in depth all the sites.
There are four cliff dwellings that are tour lead only and require tickets, Balcony House, Cliff Palace, Spruce Tree House and Long House. We were lucky enough to get tickets for the same day for Cliff Palace. This is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. Cliff Palace contains over 150 rooms and 23 kivas and supported at one time a population of around 100 people. The tour itself was super fun, a small group of us were led by a ranger around the cliff house. It was rather steep to start and finish but the walk overall was very easy. Joe the park ranger who was our tour guide was 71 and we were his first tour back after having a hip replacement.The kids enjoyed seeing the ancient site and hearing the history of the place.
We really need more time (days more) to explore the rest of the park. We were able to stop at a number of places and explore a little bit. This part is at the top of our list to return to.
