Mesa Verde National Park
Most of the 63 big National Parks are highlighted by natural beauty. Canyons, mountains, waterfalls, geysers, giant trees, scenic coastline, caverns, volcanoes, lake and rivers, etc. Only two are primary famous because of something man made. One is Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis (which, if you’re asking us, should have remained a National Memorial), the other is Mesa Verde, which is very deserving of the distinction.
The cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde in southwestern Colorado were built by the Ancestral Puebloans between 600 and 1300 CE. These remarkable structures range from small storage rooms to elaborate villages, all constructed in the natural alcoves of canyon walls. Archaeologists have learned a lot about these dwellings and the people who lived there, but they remain unsure why the Ancestral Puebloans’ abandoned them in the late 13th century. Mesa Verde was designated a national park on June 29, 1906, to preserve its extraordinary archaeological heritage, making it the fifth national park established in the United States and the first (and for a long time only) created to protect cultural rather than natural resources.
We made it to Mesa Verde by way of Page, Arizona. We made a stop at the Four Corners along the way and enjoyed some delicious Navajo fry bread. We goto the park, hit the visitor center and museum, went back out to Cortez for dinner in Cortez, and then made it to Morefield Campground about an hour before sunset. We decided to climb up to Point Lookout for sunset, which was very much worth it, especially because of the full moon. We ended up staying to watch the moon brighten, and more or less had to decent a mile and 400’ in elevation in the near dark. We did get down in time for a Ranger led program at the amphitheater.
On our full day, we got onto a 9:30am Cliff Palace tour, followed by an 11am Balcony House tour. We had reserved the Balcony House tour, but Cliff Palace was sold out, but for the fact that we happened upon a family in the visitor center the afternoon before who had extra tickets. Lesson learned here is to book Mesa Verde Tours as far in advance as possible on Recreation.gov.
These sites are truly spectacular. And, as much as you can get photos from the viewpoints, the ability to take the tour, here about the culture, and get into the actual site, it’s worth the planning and the time. (Plus the photos are much better.) It’s hard to imagine how these dwelling were built, and there’s such a strange mystery surrounding the departure of the builders. Mesa Verde has been a National Park system well over 100 years, and this jewel still shines.
We filled out the day with the Mesa Top Loop, Fair View sites, the museum and gift shop. And that was all we needed in Mesa Verde. In a future trip, we’d like to have 3-4 days to take a more leisurely path through the Park and explore some of the top-side hikes. But, we definitely got the highlights knocked out.
We were off to Black Canyon of the Gunnison.