Mesa Verde National Park

There’s a certain connection you get when encountering something made with human hands… a thousand years ago. Mesa Verde, outside of Cortez in southwest Colorado, is one of the largest and most significant displays of preserved Native American dwellings in the United States, a region inhabited by Ancestral Puebloans between the years 600 AD and 1300 AD. As stated by descendants of the Ancestral Puebloans, “this is more than just a national park and World Heritage Site, this is a living place”.

We found Mesa Verde to be both fascinating and very different from other national parks we have visited. We’ve seen some Native American cliff dwellings before in our travels but nothing of this magnitude and with the ability to actually enter the cliff dwellings and see them up close. The park consists of a series of canyons and mesas that starts to become evident as you drive the narrow winding road through the park, gaining altitude along the way. Early Puebloans built pit houses (living structures) and eventually more advanced structures on the mesas near their farmland. Around 1190 AD they began to build cliff dwellings in the protected alcoves along the cliffs edge. Kivas, a circular room built beneath the surface, were common throughout the different periods and used for spiritual and religious purposes. At its peak around 1200 AD the Mesa Verde region inhabited around 40,000 people.

Much of the cliff dwellings and other structures can be seen from overlooks and through short trails so the park is accessible for all physical levels. However, to get the full experience, ranger-led tours allow you to enter the cliff dwellings for an up-close and personal experience. These tours vary in difficulty and do require climbing ladders and in some cases squeezing through small spaces. I’ll cover this in more detail later.

Just before the entry gate, there is a Visitor Center which is always a good first stop to get the lay of the land and speak with one of the park rangers. Once you enter the park, you’ll find that the road steadily climbs, and you will start to see some scenic overlooks. My advice is always to stop at as many overlooks as you can but certainly don’t miss Montezuma Valley Overlook and Park Point Overlook. The latter (requiring a short uphill walk) provides the most expansive views with the ability to see four states on a clear day.

The park road eventually splits towards two separate sections of the park, Chapin Mesa and Wetherill Mesa. Chapin Mesa is the more popular area of the park and where you want to start, whereas Wetherill Mesa is more remote and requires hiking to see most of the sites. The first stop along the Chapin Mesa Road is the Far View Sites. Here you can see some of the early mesa dwellings adjacent to the parking area or take the short interpretive trail to see more structures and farms and to learn about Puebloan life on the mesas.

A little further down the road you will come to your next stop, the Mesa Verde Museum. Check out the museum and all of the recovered artifacts and be sure to watch the short film which will give you a very good understanding of the history of this region. Behind the museum is a short pathway that takes you to an overlook for the Spruce Tree House cliff dwelling. Although tours are not available for this cliff dwelling, you get a great vantage point of the best preserved cliff dwelling in the park. If you want to adventure further, you can take the 2.7-mile Petroglyph Point Trail. We didn’t get to this trail, but I understand it’s a good one and an opportunity to see the petroglyphs.

Past the museum the road splits again towards two 6-mile loops, Mesa Top Loop and Cliff Palace Loop. Both of these loops provide some amazing viewpoints of several cliff dwellings such as Square Tower House and Cliff Palace, viewable from the Mesa Top Loop. The 1.2-mile Soda Canyon Overlook Trail, off of the Cliff Palace loop gets you to a view of the Balcony House cliff dwelling. There are also a couple of stops along the Mesa Top Loop where you can see some of the preserved pit houses.

There are four cliff dwellings in the park that you can directly access, three of which require an advanced reservation for a ranger-led tour and one, Step House, which is available for self-guided tours with no reservation required. Reservations become available in a rolling two-week basis through recreation.gov so plan accordingly because they do sell out quickly. I’ll cover each of them briefly.

Cliff Palace is is the largest and most iconic cliff dwelling in North America and an absolute must see when visiting Mesa Verde. Located on the Chapin Mesa, this is a ranger-led tour that requires advanced reservations. Cliff Palace includes approximately 150 individual structures and housed from 100 to 125 people. It’s fascinating how these sandstone block, wooden beam structures have lasted for 800 years. The tour does require some steep stairs and several wooden ladders to climb but most people should be able to do this.

Balcony House is another ranger-led tour, located near Cliff Palace, that is a bit more adventurous. On the tour you will climb a 32 foot ladder and crawl through a small 12 foot long tunnel. Exiting the dwelling (required) involves climbing up a 65 foot open cliff face with 31 feet of steep uneven stone steps and two 18 foot ladders. Personally, I didn’t think it was as difficult as advertised, and can’t decide what I liked better, the adventure of it or the awe of the dwelling structures themselves. This one is not for everyone though (you know who you are).

Step House is located on Wetherill Mesa and is a self-guided tour not requiring advanced reservations. Personally, after touring Cliff Palace and Balcony House, this was a little underwhelming for us. This is the cliff dwelling to see if you were unable to get reservations for any of the ranger-led tours or just want to see a bit more. Also be aware that access to this cliff dwelling is only available from the hours of 9:00 am to 2:45 pm. Additionally, the road to Wetherill Mesa may have additional access restrictions based on the day of week or time of year so it’s always a good idea to check their website ahead of time.

Long House is also located on Wetherill Mesa but is a ranger-led tour requiring advanced reservations. We did not do this one so I can’t speak to it personally, but I understand it is another fascinating tour. Long House is the second largest cliff dwelling in the park and requires a longer 2.25-mile hike. This might be a good option if you’re not able to get reservations for Cliff Palace.

There are plenty of other hiking opportunities available in Mesa Verde National Park to further explore the beauty of the mesas, canyons, unique rock formations, valleys and far away mountain ranges. Point Lookout Trail is a great option and easy to get to since it closer to the front of the park. This 2.2 mile hike climbs quickly through a series of switchbacks and then levels off on the mesa before ended at an amazing viewpoint. You have a great view of – well everything – but also the park road below which gives you a unique perspective.

Mesa Verde is a national park that you can easily cover in 2 to 3 days depending how many tours and how much hiking you do. Although we enjoyed driving the Wetherill Mesa road and seeing more of the park, I would not say this area is necessarily a “must see” when visiting the park. Look at it as a bonus if you have more time to spend or couldn’t get a tour reservations at Cliff Palace or Balcony House.

We set up camp just north of Cortez at Westview RV Resort, a great park with plenty of activities and great people. This location allowed for a quick drive to the park, but also easy access to other destinations. We took a day trip to Durango and hung out at Durango Hot Springs for a couple of hours. I highly recommend this for some needed chill time, but be sure to stop for lunch afterwards at James Ranch Grill, a “table on the farm” restaurant that sources its main regenerative ingredients from the James Ranch itself. Speaking of food, our top two spots in Cortez (and they were both fantastic) were Thai Cortez for Thai food and the Loungin’ Lizard, which serves up amazing comfort food in one of those old city buildings.

Since the San Juan Skyway scenic road was right outside our doorstep we took advantage of it to travel further up in the mountains and ended up at the cool little ski town of Telluride. The town is great to hang out in and the drive to get there is even better. I’m sure we will see more of Telluride as we continue our Colorado Rockies adventure. Until then, check out all the pictures from Mesa Verde and the surrounding areas and… see you down the road a piece.