Mesa Verde

June 2012 and April 2005 - I was here twice, the First time it was covered in snow when we arrived. Very beautiful. Howevwr we only spent a few hours. 2nd time we stayed at the campground, lovely one, and joinwd the balcony Tour next morning. Lots of Steep Latters and nice views at the pueblos. The Green Plateau is also worth visiting due to its natural beauty. If you want to see wvweything, you have to drive a lot. I recommend visiting the area around cliff palace.

The Nationalparks habe Junior Ranger Programs, that are fun even for adults. And buy an Anual Pass for the Nationalparks if you want to see more of them on your trip.

While hiking the Inca Trail last month, I was wondering how different North American cultural heritage might look if the Inca Empire had extended further north. We may never know what North American Incan architecture would look like, but North America does have incredible Puebloan architecture from the 12th century on display at Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado. Mesa Verde was one of the first two US World Heritage Sites, and part of the first group of World Heritage Sites inscribed in 1978. The exquisite Cliff Palace is rightly famed, and looks incredible from the viewing platforms; unfortunately when I visited in May 2016, palace tours had not yet started for the season. Instead, I signed up for a tour of Balcony House, built high up on the side of a cliff. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour, and was impressed at the craftmanship of the rooms and kivas, which look out over a valley. After the tour, I drove around the park's loop trails and stopped by the museum at the visitor center before continuing to nearby Wetherill Mesa, where I visited Step House and hiked some of the Long House trail. Mesa Verde deserves at least one full day for a visit, if not more, and is one of the best cultural sites the US has to offer.

Logistics: Mesa Verde is expansive and requires private transportation for access; there are several hiking trails available once in the park.

Before I visited Mesa Verde National Park, I really had no idea what the place will be looked like except the famous image of Cliff Palace, as a result, I really surprised when I drove pass the entrance of national park to reach my hotel in Cortez and saw the whole stunning mountain and winding road to reach the top of the mesa, really beautiful but I really concerned that my small compact rental car would be capable to take me there or not after many slow climb on Colorado mountain road. In the next morning around 8.30 AM when I approached the visitor center to buy ticket to see Cliff Palace and Balcony House, the 11.00 AM ticket of Cliff Palace tour was already sold out, so I got my slot at 12.30 PM instead. The visitor center itself was quite impressive and the statue in front of the center was really nice to see. I drove slowly to the top of mesa. The road turned out to be quite easy to drive and the view was really great.

Unfortunately, I was unable to be on time for the Balcony House tour, so I decided to take the Mesa Top Loop Road instead. This scenic route has nice view of the Navajo Canyon and some ancient pit houses which are fine. The best part of the loop is the Sun Temple since apart from the ruins, the Cliff Palace can be seen from this spot and the view …

The Southwest is filled with living and long disappeared Native American cultural sites and Mesa Verde is an absolute must when visiting the region. I visited Mesa Verde National Park twice, once in 2009 and a second time in 2014. The national park is large enough that during my second visit much of what I explored was new. This would be ideal as a mixed property, but when it was inscribed that was not thought of yet.

Like much of the Ancient Puebloan cultures in the Southwest, the story of these sites are one we are still trying to better understand today, particularly their relation with other peoples of the North American continent. They built massive structures, practiced astronomy, traded with coastal peoples in California, and established trade routes extending to Mesoamerican cultures. 

To me, Mesa Verde and specifically "Cliff Palace" is America's Parthenon, a grand structure designed by master architects that should be more well-known. Mesa Verde along with Chaco Culture, Taos Pueblo, Canyon of the Ancients, Bears Ears, Canyon de Chelly, and Monument Valley in the Four Corners region are some of the most exceptional Native American sites in the United State and highly rewarding for any curious visitor.

There are some sites that I want to visit from the first time I see a picture of them. The Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde has been one of them for several years, and it certainly didn't disappoint.

The tour of the Cliff Palace was really well conducted. Our guide was very informative and friendly evidently reflecting a love of his job. The first view of the "Palace" from the lookout was impressive, but getting down in amongst the ruins was the real highlight. The precarious location has meant that this magnificent feat of engineering has remained in very good condition, with only a few minor modern enhancements. It is incredible to think how these structures were built in this location. Our guide provided answers and various points of view relating to how and why they were created, personally I like this "post-modern" approach to presenting conflicting ideas and answers rather than relying on a basic catch-all narrative. The tour wasn't too physically challenging either.

After the tour we drove off on the Mesa Top loop, this afforded great views of the canyon containing the Cliff Palace, as well as nearly a dozen other clusters of houses tucked under the rim. Another good thing about this drive was that there were remains from earlier structures, showing how settlements progressed from the basic round houses on the Mesa top, through to pueblo like structures and then eventually over the edge to the cliff dwellings. On the way out we had a …

Driving on the entrance road to Mesa Verde National Park I enjoyed the autumn colours, but I also couldn’t look away from the many dead trees. They have been affected by massive fires over the last years, and also are under attack by beetles.

I had booked a two-night stay in the park’s Far View Lodge to have enough time in the park, and that proved to be a good choice. As my room wasn’t ready yet, I started sightseeing immediately. Closest to the entrance lie the Chapin Museum and Spruce Tree House. I watched the video at the museum about the origins of Mesa Verde, and the questions that still surround it (why did the people choose to move to cliff dwellings?).

Spruce Tree House is one of the best-preserved dwellings. It’s just a 15-minute walk down from the museum. Although it’s late in the afternoon there are still about 50 other visitors. All rooms are covered by huge overhanging rocks. About 100 people lived here at the time (13th century). It’s cramped, but you notice that the place keeps really cool while the sun is burning on the lands around and above it.

The next morning I make it an early start. The first stop is the House with the Many Windows. This is situated on the other side of the canyon and looks like an apartment building (with its many windows – that are actually doors).

A bit further on, I meet a …

We visited Mesa Verde in 1995 and it was wonderful. We took both the Palace House and the Balcony House Tours and walked through many other sites. We put up a tent and stayed one night. I took several slides and in 2000, gave a show to my grandson's 3rd grade class. Now, in 2008, I will show the slides again to my twin granddaughter's 3rd grade class. They are so excited as they, also, are studying Mesa Verde. The ruins haven't changed, but I suppose the campsite we were in has lost the trees in the fires since we were there. It was Site #54 in the Zuni Loop, a short walk-down site and one of the few with trees. We were very lucky to get it. We were tickled to find, when we returned to camp, that we had a snoozing deer hiding under the foilage a few yards away from the tent. She was not disturbed, and I zoomed in for a picture. I ask the children to see if they can spot her because she is very camouflaged. We've decided we need to come again soon!

Mesa Verde was the highlight of my trip to the Southwest. I had decided I wanted to see it after reading about it in a book about wonders of the world. Although I was looking forward to touring the cliff dwellings, I had no idea just how much there was to see at this wonderful site. We drove into the park first thing in the morning and spent one very long, perfect September day there, but we could have spent more time easily. Entering the park involves a 25-minute drive up into the hills, which is lovely in its own right because of the views. There are many interesting ruins all along the tops of these hills, but the truly spectacular ones are the famous cliff dwellings built into the walls of the canyons. There is a surprisingly large number of these structures; in fact, there is one viewing point where as you scan the length of a canyon you can see at least half a dozen dwellings all along. The more you look, the more pop out.

The tours are excellent, and are indeed a bargain. I'm admittedly an acrophobe, so I was a little nervous about the ladder-climbing necessary, but my desire to see everything was stronger than my fear of heights. Because we arrived in September when the crowds had thinned out considerably, we were able to purchase tickets to tour both Cliff Palace and Balcony House, which one is not able to do in the height …

Mesa Verde offers grand vistas of Southwestern Colorado's sweeping mesa plateaus, along with the spectacular ancient cliff dwellings for which it is most famous. From the modern Far View Lodge (and the usual visitor center, restaurant, and gift shop), you can see far beyond jagged and giganitic Ship Rock, almost 50 miles south. The motor hotel's restaurant is reputed to be among the finest in the state, featuring dishes with a Spanish flair, although my wife and I did not visit. We took a half day bus tour by the Aramark Company, with an excellent guide, but I think it was greatly overpriced, and we had experiences of equal or better quality on the one or two hour, $2 U.S. park ranger-led excursions. The ancient sites are amazing! One in particular stays with me: Long House. It includes a large level dance floor centered in the sunshine, in front the immense alcove of curving, overhanging rock, which shelters the actual house. It's several hundred feet long and built on many levels. The brick work has been beautifully restored. The trail is not strenuous, but our ranger reminded us this is a remote place, and treatment for a heart attack would be many hours away at best. In fact, as we began the trek, he said, "If you suffer a heart attack down there, you're dead." The trail is not too steep, though, and is asphalt all the way.

The ranger also told us he and another man camped at Long …