| 16th | Top World Heritage Sites in the Americas |
| Mesa Verde National Park | |
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IUCN Category II (National Park)
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 Entrance to the park |
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| Location | Montezuma County, Colorado United States North America |
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| Nearest city | Cortez |
| Coordinates | 37°11′02″N 108°29′19″W / 37.183784°N 108.488687°WCoordinates: 37°11′02″N 108°29′19″W / 37.183784°N 108.488687°W |
| Area | 52,121.93 acres
(21,093.00 ha) 51,890.65 acres (20,999.40 ha) federal |
| Established | 1906-06-29 |
| Visitors | 557,248 (in 2006) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Mesa Verde National Park* | |
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| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
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| State Party |  United States
of America |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | iii |
| Reference | 27 |
| Region** | Europe and North America |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 1978 (2nd Session) |
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* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO. |
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Mesa Verde National Park is a U.S. National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado, United States. The park occupies 81.4 square miles (211 km2) (211 square kilometers) near the Four Corners and features numerous ruins of homes and villages built by the ancient Pueblo people known as the Anasazi. The Anasazi made this stone village their home in the 1200s AD. It is best known for several spectacular cliff dwellings — structures built within caves and under outcroppings in cliffs — including Cliff Palace, which is thought to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The Spanish term Mesa Verde translates into English as "green tableland".
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Mesa Verde National Park is located in the lower south-western corner of the state of Colorado.
Elevations in the park range from about 6,100 to 8,400 feet (1,900 to 2,600 m). The terrain in much of the park is dominated by ridges and valleys running roughly north and south; many of these ridges peak at an east–west crest near the park's northern border which turns more northerly–southerly towards the park entrance. The northernmost point is 13.2 miles (21.2 kilometers) farther north than the southernmost; the westernmost point is 11.9 miles (19.2 kilometers) farther west than the easternmost.
Although explorers from Spain went through the general region in the 18th century, actual sight of the cliffs dwellings by outsiders seems to have first occurred in the latter half of the 19th century. The fame of Mesa Verde soon began to spread thanks to the Wetherill ranchers and the archeological work of Gustaf Nordenskiöld. Vandalism led to the President Teddy Roosevelt's support of protecting the area as a national park in 1906.
Spanish explorers seeking a route from Santa Fe to California in the 1760s and 1770s were the first Europeans to reach the Mesa Verde (green table) region, which they named after its high, tree-covered plateaus. But they never got close enough, or into the needed angle, to see the ancient stone villages, which would remain a secret for another century.
Occasional trappers and prospectors visited, with one prospector, John Moss, making his observations known in 1873. The following year he led eminent photographer William Henry Jackson through Mancos Canyon, at the base of Mesa Verde. There Jackson both photographed and publicized a typical stone cliff dwelling. In 1875 geologist William H. Holmes retraced Jackson's route. Reports by both Jackson and Holmes were included in the 1876 report of the Hayden Survey, one of the four federally financed efforts to explore the American West. These and other publications led to proposals to systematically study Southwestern archaeological sites. They did not lead to action for some years.
Meanwhile, ranchers were beginning to settle the Mancos Valley. Some climbed up into Mesa Verde and observed more and larger stone structures. Looting of artifacts began, both for home display and for sale cheaply to visitors to the region. In a dismal two decades of despoliation, the most responsible ranchers were members of the Wetherill family, who also had the best relations with the local Ute tribe on whose territory Mesa Verde was located. The Wetherills collected artifacts for sale to the Historical Society of Colorado as well as private collectors, and began assembling a small library of relevant publications. They also saw the tourist potential of the cliff dwellings they now sought out systematically. Over several years they reoriented their ranch toward guiding tourists through the cliff dwellings, and became the first experts on them. Although they continued to dig in the ruins, knocking down some walls and roofs and gathering artifacts without extensive documentation, the Wetherill's actions were more responsible and considerate than those of the other looters that preceded them. Modern archaeological opinion generally agrees that the Wetherill family were reasonable caretakers in an era before archaeological standards and federal oversight and protection.[1]
One noteworthy early visitor was a New York newspaper reporter named Virginia McClurg, whose efforts over a period of years helped lead eventually to park status for Mesa Verde. Another, in 1889 and 1890, was photographer and travel writer Frederick H. Chapin. He described the landscape and structures in an 1890 article and 1892 book, The Land of the Cliff-Dwellers, whose many excellent photographs were the first extensive view of Mesa Verde available to the public. Like other visitors in the early years, he was guided by the Wetherills.
Perhaps the most important early visitor was Gustaf Nordenskiöld, son of Finnish-Swedish polar explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, in 1891. Nordenskiöld, a trained mineralogist, introduced scientific methods to artifact collection, recorded locations, photographed extensively, diagrammed sites, and correlated what he observed with existing archaeological literature as well as the home-grown expertise of the Wetherills.[2]
Local opposition surfaced, however, and, after it was learned that Nordenskiöld's artifacts would be shipped to a museum in northern Europe, he was arrested and charged with "devastating the ruins." Rumors of lynching circulated. Only intervention by several Washington cabinet secretaries freed Nordenskiöld.
On return to Sweden, Nordenskiöld published, in 1893, the first scholarly study of the ruins, The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, which put Mesa Verde on the map in the international community. Nordenskiöld's activities remained controversial for many decades but are generally recognized as highly valuable today. Nordenskiöld's collection of Mesa Verde artifacts—in the National Museum of Finland—is the largest outside the U.S. Former Mesa Verde National Park superintendent Robert Heyder summed up Nordenskiöld's contributions:
Yet vandalism continued. By the end of the 19th century, it was clear that Mesa Verde needed protection from unthinking or greedy people. An early Mesa Verde National Park superintendent, Hans Randolph, described the situation at the best known cliff dwelling, Cliff Palace:
As concern grew over the archaeological well being of Mesa Verde's ruins, and those in other nearby sites, the area was established as a national park on June 29, 1906. As with all historical areas administered by the National Park Service, the park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. It was designated a World Heritage Site on September 6, 1978. The park was named with the Spanish for green table because of its forests of juniper and piñon trees.
A set of six buildings built by the National Park Service in 1921, the Mesa Verde Administrative District, was designated a National Historic Landmark on May 29, 1987. It consists of the first buildings constructed by the National Park Service which are based on cultural traditions represented in the park area. The principal designer believed that structures could be used for interpretive purposes to explain the construction of prehistoric dwellings in the Park, and be compatible with their natural and cultural setting.
In the summers of 2000 (twice), 2001, 2002, and 2003, the park, which is covered with pinyon pine and utah juniper forests, suffered from a large number of forest fires; parts of it were closed. All areas of the park have since re-opened, but some areas show significant damage from the fires.
Mesa Verde's park entrance is about 9 miles (15 kilometers) east of the community of Cortez. The visitor center is 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the entrance, and Chapin Mesa (the most popular area) is another 6 miles (10 kilometers) beyond the visitor center.
The park's Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum provides information about the Ancient Puebloan civilization and displays findings and artwork.
Three of the cliff dwellings on Chapin Mesa are open to the public. Spruce Tree House is open all year, weather permitting. Balcony House and Cliff Palace are open except in the winter; visitors may tour them only on ranger-guided tours. The cliff dwellings on Wetherill Mesa, including Long House and Step House, can be reached via a 12 mile (19.2 kilometer) long mountain road leading southwest from the park visitor center. Many other dwellings are visible from the road but not open to tourists.
In addition to the cliff dwellings, Mesa Verde boasts a number of mesa-top ruins. Examples open to public access include the Far View Complex, Cedar Tree Tower, and the Sun Temple, all on Chapin Mesa, and Badger House Community, on Wetherill Mesa.
Also in the park are hiking trails, a campground, and facilities for food, fuel, and lodging; these are unavailable in the winter.
The Mesa Verde National Park Post Office has the ZIP Code 81330.[3]
Mesa Verde is best known for a large number of well preserved cliff dwellings, houses built in shallow caves and under rock overhangs along the canyon walls. The structures contained within these alcoves were mostly blocks of hard sandstone, held together and plastered with adobe mortar. Specific constructions had many similarities, but were generally unique in form due to the individual topography of different alcoves along the canyon walls. In marked contrast to earlier constructions and villages on top of the mesas, the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde reflected a region-wide trend towards the aggregation of growing regional populations into close, highly defensible quarters during the 1200s.
While much of the construction in these sites conforms to common Pueblo architectural forms, including Kivas, towers, and pit-houses, the space constrictions of these alcoves necessitated what seems to have been a far denser concentration of their populations. Mug House, a typical cliff dwelling of the period, was home to around 100 people who shared 94 small rooms and eight kivas built right up against each other and sharing many of their walls; builders in these areas maximized space in any way they could and no areas were considered off-limits to construction [4].
Not all of the people in the region lived in cliff dwellings; many colonized the canyon rims and slopes in multi-family structures that grew to unprecedented size as populations swelled[5]. Decorative motifs for these sandstone/mortar constructions, both cliff dwellings and non-, included T-shaped windows and doors. This has been taken by some archaeologists, such as Stephen Lekson (1999), as evidence of the continuing reach of the Chaco Canyon elite system, which had seemingly collapsed around a century before[6]. Other researchers see these motifs as part of a more generalized Puebloan style and/or spiritual significance, rather than evidence of a continuing specific elite socioeconomic system.[7]
For most of the 12th and 13th centuries, known archaeologically as the Classic Period, the Ancient Puebloan Indians lived in the cliff dwellings. The reason for their sudden departure about 1275 remains unexplained; theories range from crop failures due to droughts to an intrusion of foreign tribes from the North.
In February 2008, the Colorado Historical Society has decided to invest a part of its US$7 million budget into a Culturally modified trees project in the National Park.[9]
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Mesa Verde National Park [1] is a United States National Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the southwestern corner of the state of Colorado. The park is world-renowned for the incredibly well-preserved cliff dwellings it protects. Indeed, they are some of the most interesting archeological sights in North America. Mesa Verde is also notable for its desert landscape of tall mesas and steep canyons.
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"Anasazi" or "Ancestral Puebloans"? For decades, the people that once lived in these dwellings have generally been referred to as the "Anasazi". However, in recent years there has been an effort to stop referring to them as "Anasazi", as it is believed the term translates to "ancient enemy" or "enemy ancestor". Instead, the term "Ancestral Puebloans" is favored, and is the term you will see on most park displays and information signs. This is a fairly recent change though, so there is still a fair amount of confusion regarding the two terms. |
The name of the park is Spanish for "green table", referring to the vegetation found at the tops of the plateaus in this area. The Ancestral Puebloans chose Mesa Verde as their settlement 1,400 years ago, establishing small pithouses (large holes in the ground with a wooden roof overhead) on the mesa tops. Back then they were more nomadic, and hunted game with spears and were skilled basketmakers. Over time they began to farm the mesa tops, learned how to create pottery, and fashioned bows and arrows instead of spears.
As the population grew, the Ancestral Puebloans moved from pithouses to pole-and-adobe houses built above ground. The pithouses became kivas (ceremonial rooms) as the mesa top villages became larger and more complex. Stone masonry replaced the poles and mud of earlier houses, as villages rose two or three stories high, became more compact, and had many rooms. During this time, pottery replaced baskets as a more desired craft.
Around the year 1200, the Ancestral Puebloans began to move under overhangs found in the cliffs of the canyons. Here, they built cities with multi-storied structures that housed 100-400 people. However, the Ancestral Puebloans only used these incredible constructions for less than 100 years. By the year 1300, they had left the area for reasons unknown, traveling south into New Mexico and Arizona.
About 100 million years ago, Mesa Verde and the surrounding area were covered by a shallow sea, and sand deposits cemented into the sandstone layers that make up much of the park's geology. As the sea withdrew to the south, uplift in the area created the high plateau that is Mesa Verde. Over time, small streams have cut channels into the plateau, creating steep canyons which separate the individual mesas. Traveling south, the mesa extends like fingers into the desert.
From the park entrance in Montezuma Valley, the elevation climbs steeply to the rim of the flat mesa top. Elevations in the park range from about 6,100 feet (1,860 meters) to about 8,400 feet (2,560 meters) above sea level.
There is a lot of wildlife in the park. Mule deer are a common sight, as are wild turkeys since the park service reintroduced them. You might also see squirrels, skunks, or an occasional black bear around the campground. Other mammals seen in the park include coyote, gray fox, mountain lion, black bear, elk, marmot, and porcupines. There is also a wide variety of birds in the park (Mesa Verde even has a bird checklist). In the canyons you could find warblers, flycatchers, woodpeckers, jays, hawks, chickadees, titmice, and other species. Hawks, golden eagles, and peregrine falcons can be seen on the rim of the mesa along the Montezuma Valley.
Mesa Verde is in the Upper Sonoran Life Zone, which is characterized by semi-arid climate, moderately high altitude, and pinyon-juniper forests. Big sagebrush, Douglas fir, and Ponderosa pine are quite common. Gambel oak is in abundance around the Morefield Campground.
Watch for poison ivy, particularly around Morefield Campground and in the canyons. Incidentally, if you've never seen poison ivy in the wild, the park's brochure for the Petroglyph Point trail -- see below under "Do" -- helpfully points out a place along the trail where it grows perennially, so that you can see what it's like. Look but don't touch!
Mesa Verde is a four-season park, with a dry high-desert climate. Summer can get hot, with temperatures sometimes reaching into the 90s, (so drink plenty of water), but the evenings are quite cool (summer lows average in the 50s). Afternoon thunderstorms are common in July and August. Winters are rather mild (with average temperatures in 40s), but Mesa Verde is at a high elevation so snow can happen as early as October and as late as May.
The major attractions in the park can be seen in just a half day, while longer visits will allow time to explore some of the less busy ruins and to take time to visit rock writings.
Mesa Verde is something of a seasonal park. While it is open year round, many of the services are only offered from April through October. The only places open year-round are at the central part of Chapin Mesa: the museum, the Spruce Tree Terrace restaurant, and Spruce Tree House.
Direct access to the main archeological sights is only available on guided tours, tickets must be purchased at the Far View Visitor Center. Otherwise, plan on viewing the sights from overlooks.
Driving is just about the only way to get to Mesa Verde. The entrance to the park is 9 miles east of Cortez and 35 miles west of Durango on US Highway 160 (formerly US Highway 666). Keep in mind that the road into the park is steep, narrow, and winding, so make sure your car is in good shape and has plenty of gas. The only gas station in the park is located at the Morefield Campground.
Cortez has a small airport [2] with daily flights to Denver on Great Lakes Airlines. Durango has a larger airport [3] with daily flights to Denver on United Express and Frontier Airlines, and to Phoenix on USAirways. Rental car outlets are available at both airports.
A 7 day entry pass to the park costs $10 per private vehicle fall-spring, and $15 per vehicle during the summer months. Motorcyclists and individuals on non-commercial buses pay $5 per person fall-spring and $8 per person during the summer.
An annual pass, just for Mesa Verde, is available for $30. Regular annual park passes, good for all National Park Service parks for one year, will get you in to Mesa Verde and are available for $80.
Ranger-led tours of the Cliff Palace, Balcony House and Long House areas cost $3.00 per person per tour.
There are four main areas of the park: Morefield Campground, Far View, Chapin Mesa, and Wetherill Mesa. Morefield Campground is just inside the park, 4 miles from the entrance. Another 11 miles in is Far View, where you can drive another 6 miles to Chapin Mesa or turn right and drive 12 miles to get to Wetherill Mesa.
For the most part you will need private transportation in order to move throughout the park. The only public transit available is on Wetherill Mesa, where a tram services the area that is otherwise inaccessible to automobiles. The roads are steep, narrow, and winding, so make sure your car is in good shape and has plenty of gas. You can get gasoline at the Morefield Campground store. Watch out for rocks that may have fallen on to the road.
Trailers and towed vehicles are not permitted beyond Morefield Campground. If you're not camping, you can park these vehicles in the parking lot located near the entrance station. The road to Wetherill Mesa (open Memorial Day to Labor Day) has sharp curves and steep grades, so vehicles on this road are restricted to less than 8,000 pounds and 25-feet in length.
Wetherill Mesa is only open seasonally. The Wetherill Mesa road opens at 9AM and closes to incoming traffic at 4:30PM every day, from Memorial Day to Labor Day. At the end of the road is the Wetherill Mesa Kiosk, 12 miles from Far View. You cannot drive beyond the Wetherill Mesa Kiosk; instead, there is a special tram service which takes you to a few sites on Wetherill Mesa. The tram departs from the kiosk every half-hour on the half hour from 10AM-5PM, making stops at the Long House trail (accessible only by guided tour), the Badger House Trail, and the Kodak House and Long House Overlooks.
Guided tours are the only way to get up-close with some of Mesa Verde's greatest and most outstanding cliff dwellings: Cliff Palace, Balcony House, and Long House (on Wetherill Mesa). Tickets cost $3 per person, per tour, and must be purchased at the Far View Visitor Center. The one exception is in the fall, after the Visitor Center has closed, when tours of Cliff Palace must be purchased at the Chapin Mesa Museum. Due to the popularity of the Cliff Palace and Balcony House tours, visitors are limited to only one of these two tours per day (Long House can be visited on the same day, however). Try to arrive early for ranger-guided tours as they tend to fill up quickly, particularly in summer. By mid-morning you should be prepared for at least an hour long wait for a place in a tour group. Be forewarned that each tour does involve traversing uneven stairways and tall wooden ladders. While the overall distance you travel on the hiking tour isn’t very far, the nature of the trail, high altitude, and extreme temperatures all combine to make the hike a little grueling for the average couch potato.
Aramark operates half-day bus tours of Mesa Verde spring through fall. National Park Service Rangers provide information on short trails, overlooks, and a tour of Cliff Palace. Tickets may be purchased at the Far View Visitor Center, Far View Lodge and Terrace, or the Morefield Campground Village. Half-day tours begin at the Far View Terrace.
Mesa Verde offers several designated hiking trails. Backcountry hiking or overnight backpacking is not allowed, so as to protect the natural and archeological sites in the park. All the trails (except Soda Canyon Overlook and Knife Edge) are strenuous and involve steep elevation changes. Some trails offer little shade, and it can get pretty hot in the summer, so be sure to take along lots of water.
Morefield Campground trails:
Chapin Mesa trails:
Wetherill Mesa trails:
The Far View Visitor Center and the Chapin Mesa Museum have a bookstore, and gift shops are located in the Spruce Tree Terrance (near the museum) and the Far View Lodge. Buying postcards of the sites will save you the hassle of trying to get perfect shots of the sites with nobody else in them and allow you to focus on getting great photos of you having fun. There are also Native Americans in the parks that sell their arts and crafts. Take a look if Southwestern jewelry and art interest you.
For groceries, camping supplies, and gasoline, the camp store at the Morefield Campground is the only place in the park. They also have a laundromat.
Food is available at four locations in the park:
You can purchase soft drinks, juices, and drinking water at any of the restaurants and cafes around the park, including at Chapin Mesa, Far View, the Morefield Campground store, and the ranger station on Wetherill Mesa. There is an espresso bar at the Far View Terrace & Marketplace.
For alcohol, there's just about only one place in Mesa Verde where you can get it, and that's at The Metate Room restaurant in the Far View Lodge, which offers an extensive wine list.
Far View Lodge, near the Far View Visitor Center and the Far View Terrace Marketplace, +1 800 449-2288, [5]. May-October. Check-in: 3PM, check-out: 10AM. This is the only hotel in the park. 150 rooms, all non-smoking and with a private balcony. There are no TVs in the rooms. $110-$140.
Lodging is also available in the nearby towns of Cortez, Dolores, and Mancos, and farther away in Durango.
Morefield Campground [6] is the only campground in the park. The campsites are quite nice, most of them with lots of trees for privacy (and the campground rarely fills up), and all of them have a table, bench, and grill. There are also RV sites with full hookups. The restrooms are clean, and there are free showers. At the entrance to the campground is a store (where you can get gas, groceries and camp supplies), an RV dumping station, and a 24-hour laundromat. Open mid-May through mid-October. $20/night (RV sites with hookups $25/night). Check-in is anytime during open hours and check-out is at 11AM at the campground store.
Backcountry camping or overnight backpacking is not allowed in Mesa Verde to protect the scenic and archeological sights in the park.
Visits to cliff dwellings can be strenuous; many require climbing uneven steps and ladders, involve large elevation changes, or are near steep cliffs. Almost all of the trails in Mesa Verde are difficult. It can get very hot in the summer, and even in the winter it can be quite warm, so drink lots of water and put on the sunscreen.
Be careful while driving, as the roads are filled with sharp curves. Make sure your car is in good shape and make sure there's plenty of gas in the tank, as there is only one gas station in this large park, and that's at Morefield Campground. Many portions of the roads are up against cliffs, so keep an eye out for rocks that may have fallen onto the road.
To protect the fragile archaeological sights in the park, don't sit, stand, lean, or climb upon anything at the sights (that includes ancient walls, structures, ruins, etc.).
For current and constantly updated park information, you can tune your radio to 1610AM.
| Routes through Mesa Verde National Park |
| Four Corners ← Cortez ← | W  E |
→ Mancos → Durango |
| This is a guide article. It has a variety of good, quality information about the park including attractions, activities, lodging, campgrounds, restaurants, and arrival/departure info. Plunge forward and help us make it a star! |
Category: Guide articles
   | Mesa Verde National Park Page - Mesa Verde National Park |
| | Mesa Verde National Park - Mesa Verde National Park (U.S. National Park Service) |
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| | ZIP Code Lookup - USPS - ZIP Code Lookup - Search By City |
| | Photographic virtual tour of Mesa Verde National Park. - Mesa Verde National Park in 526 Images |
| | Mesa Verde Digital Media Archive - Mesa Verde Map - CyArk |
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| | Mesa Verde National Park - Mesa Verde National Park - National Parks Gallery |
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