Mesa Verde National Park

Visited: May 2014

Nearby city: Cortez, CO (west of the park) Durango, CO (east of the park)

In southwestern Colorado, Mesa Verde National Park preserves over 4,700 archaeological sites. The most impressive and popular of these sites are the cliff dwellings, including the amazing Cliff Palace, which is the largest cliff dwelling in all of North America. Although the surrounding area is very beautiful and scenic, the highlight of this National Park is not natural beauty but the exquisite and mysterious buildings of this ancient culture. This makes for a unique National Park.

The ruins here are the settlements of the Ancestral Puebloans, whose first structures here date back to 750 AD. The Ancestral Puebloans, who used to be referred to as the Anasazi (a Navajo word meaning "ancient enemy"), lived in the Four Corners area for approximately 600 years. Their legacy they have left behind are a number of pithouses, kivas, and of course, the cliff dwellings. The large pre-Colombian cliff dwellings were essentially the largest buildings in the United States until the late 19th century. It is unknown why these dwellings were abandoned in the 1300s (most likely drought forced them to migrate), but the ancestors of the Pueblo still live in the area today, mostly in New Mexico.

There are three cliff dwellings that you can explore only with a guided tour. They are (1) Cliff Palace - this is a must see. The largest cliff dwelling in North America is so incredibly impressive. The hike is not too strenuous, but there are a couple of ladders on your way back up. It's open from May - late September. (2) Balcony House - this is the "Indiana Jones" tour of the park. Very adventurous, it's exhilarating. It was my favorite experience in the park and one of the best experiences I have had in the National Parks Service. The tour starts by ascending a 32 foot ladder to get to the ruins. Then to get back up to the plateau, you crawl through a 12 foot tunnel and then a couple more ladders and precarious steps up a 60 foot rock face. It's not for the faint of heart, but it is a ton of fun and not as bad as it sounds. Just prepare yourself for it! It's open from April to October. Finally, there is (3) Long House - this is the longest hike of the three tours (2.25 miles) and contains some ladders. This tour is in a separate part of the park called Wetherill Mesa. It's open (and the road leading to it) from late May - September, so unfortunately, this ruin was not open yet when we visited.

Each of these three tours is about an hour long. Each one costs $5. You can purchase tickets at the Visitor Center at the park entrance (Entrance fee is $10 - $15, depending on time of year). You can purchase tickets up to two days in advance. We showed up right when the visitor center opened and we're able to buy tickets for 2 tours (Cliff Palace and Balcony House) for later that morning. Keep in mind that the ruins are about an hour drive from the Visitor Center, it's only 25 miles, but it's a winding, mountainous road so it's slow going.

There are also two ruins that you can visit on self-guided tours. (1) Spruce Tree House. This is about a half a mile down the canyon from the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum. Earlier this year there was some rockfall at the ruins and so it is closed indefinitely until some geological surveys can be done to ascertain safety. You can still view the ruins from overlooks in the Museum parking lot. The other self-guided tour is (2) Step House - in the Wetherill Mesa section of the park.

We spent one day in the park. First thing was to go to the Visitor Center right when it opened to buy the tour ticket for Cliff Palace and Balcony House. Then drive down to the Cliff Palace Loop Road. As you drive south from the entrance, you'll climb up the eponymous Mesa Verde and you'll see the Morefield Campground. Then you'll get to the Far View Area. There are some ruins to see here (not cliff dwellings, but pit houses) and also the park's hotel, the Far View Lodge. This is where the turnoff is to the Wetherill Mesa section of the park, so turn here if you're heading to Long House or Step House. This road is only open from late May - September. Continue south and eventually you'll get to the Chapin Mesa Museum. From here turn left to go on the Cliff Palace Loop. This is where you'll find the start for Cliff Palace Tour and Balcony House.

Mesa Verde from the park entrance

There are cliff dwellings all over this park, most of them small like this one

Once you get to the Cliff Palace, you can spend some time at the Overlook waiting for the tour to start. Cliff Palace was built around 1100-1200 AD.

You can see a small ladder in the cleft between the rocks, that's our way out at the end of the tour

I have always liked the ruins of ancient cultures, and these cliff dwellings do not disappoint. Cliff Palace is absolutely amazing. Our tour group was huge (deal with it, there'll always be lots of crowds, it's a very popular site), but it's worth it. The towers are impressive and the kivas are also very interesting. You'll see kivas everywhere, they served a very important social, political, religious, and ceremonial function in Ancestral Puebloan civilization. Take a morning tour of Cliff Palace if you want plenty of shade for the hike.

a kiva wasn't open like this, they would cover the top with a mud and thatch roof

doorway

a doorway for someone much skinnier than me

It's a short drive from the Cliff Palace Tour over to the Balcony House Tour. Take some time to enjoy the views on top of the mesa.

camouflaged cliff dwellings in the small crack

And now the adventurous Balcony House Tour. I'll admit I was nervous, but it was very fun and rewarding. If you're nervous about the tunnel, you can test it out at the Visitor Center.

Tara fits no problem

ooh boy...am I going to get through this thing?

The adventure starts right away with the big ladder. Just don't look down, take it one step at a time.

Once you're up top, enjoy the ruins of Balcony House.

this is the balcony of "Balcony House"

the balcony is unique and not found in any other dwelling in the Park

we had a great tour guide and he told lots of interesting things about the ruins

And now the tunnel...this is the part I was most nervous about. But I made it!...barely 😊

One last scramble to end the tour. Just be glad you don't have to exit and enter the dwellings the ancient way, with small foot and hand holds along the cliff face.

you can still see the handholds the ancients used to ascend and descend to their homes

After the tour we took a short hike (1.2 miles) to the Soda Canyon Overlook to get a view of Balcony House from far away.

you can see the big ladder on the right

We then headed back to the Chapin Museum and took a left (to go south) on the Mesa Top Loop. Along this road you can go to the overlook to Square Tower House (the tallest building in the park, unfortunately no guided tours), pit house ruins, and Temple of the Sun and additional overlooks of the Cliff Palace.

the pit houses (on top of the mesa) are much older than the cliff dwellings

Square Tower House

the tower is the tallest building in the Park

a kiva at the pit house

the Temple of the Sun was unique. It was unfinished, the theory is that the Puebloans abandoned the project when they left the area due to drought. It's believed that they started to build this as a way to appease the Gods to bring rain.

view of the Cliff Palace

tourists exiting the Cliff Palace Tour

We concluded our stay by seeing all the artifacts and exhibits at the Chapin Mesa Museum and took the trail down to the Spruce Tree House.

The park has covered up this kiva so you can get an idea of what they were really like

you could climb down into the kiva. It was very hot. 

Mesa Verde is one of my favorite parks. I loved exploring the cliff dwellings. If you did only one tour I would say do Balcony House. It's not as scary as it sounds/looks. It would probably be tough to do all 3 guided tours in one day. It might be wise to devote one day to the Chapin Mesa section of the Park (and do Cliff Palace, Balcony House, and Spruce Tree House), and then Day 2 to explore the Wetherill Mesa section of the Park (to do Long House and Step House). Make sure you visit sometime in June - September so that all sections of the Park are open. For more info check out: https://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm