Towering over the Montezuma Valley in Southwest Colorado,
the sandstone vistas of Mesa Verde National Park offer a unique glimpse
into the indigenous history of the American Southwest.
Once home to the Ancestral Pueblo people, these mesa-top villages
and stunning cliff-side dwellings can be seen from overlooks,
along trails, and up-close and personal on ranger-guided tours.
Mesa Verde National Park can be divided into two sections:
Chapin Mesa and Wetherill Mesa
This video provides a look at how to visit Chapin Mesa
including the drive from the park entrance.
For information on visiting the other section,
check out our video on Wetherill Mesa.
Here are some things to know before your journey into the park:
First, it's good to note that the distance from the park entrance
to the park museum is 20 miles.
This drive switchbacks across 4 mesas,
showcasing stunning views of the Montezuma Valley to the North,
and the downward sloping mesas and canyons of the park to the South,
with views as far as the northern mountains of New Mexico.
Our Visitor and Research Center is located just inside the park,
on the left as you enter from Highway 160.
This building houses over 3 million artifacts in its repository,
with rotating displays and interactive exhibits
covering geology, history, and the culture of the presentday descendants
of Mesa Verde.
If you would like to visit one of the cliff dwellings,
you must purchase a ticket for a ranger-guided tour.
You may do so at the Visitor and Research Center,
the Morefield Ranger Station,
or the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum.
You must purchase tickets in person,
and tickets may be purchased up to two days in advance.
Please note that the drive from the entrance to the Chapin Mesa
Archaeological Museum takes about 45 minutes to an hour,
so we highly recommend booking your tour
at the Visitor and Research Center to ensure your spot.
These tours sell out quickly.
Tours run from mid-spring to mid-fall,
with exact dates shared on the park website each season.
Check with a ranger at the ticket counter for current tour and ticket availabilities.
Please be advised that these tours require climbing tall ladders,
crawling through tight spaces,
and are considered strenuous hikes.
For more information on specifics of these tours,
check out tour overview videos, found on the park website.
As you travel those 20 miles to the museum
you may notice a serious change in elevation.
Mesa Verde is located on the Colorado Plateau
a high desert region that includes parts of Utah,
New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona.
The air is thin at the entrance and even thinner
throughout this drive,
reaching 8,572 feet at Park Point,
located at Mile 10.
This is also the desert, so be sure to drink water,
eat healthy and substantial snacks, and do not skip meals.
You will feel that elevation even on short hikes.
Food can be purchased at the Morefield Campground,
Far View Terrace, Far View Lodge,
and Spruce Tree Terrace during the summer months;
check for current availabilities.
Water fountains can be found at these locations as well,
and at Cliff Palace in the summer months.
If climbing ladders and tight spaces aren’t your thing,
or if you’d like to experience some of these archaeological sites
at your own pace,
visit Far View Sites, located just past Mile 16.
This self-guided moderate hike offers a look at the incredible
stone architecture of a mesa top village,
as well as an engineering masterpiece: the Far View Reservoir.
This area opens at sunrise and closes at sunset,
and it's free with your park entrance fee.
The Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum is located at mile 20,
and contains exhibits on natural resources,
Ancestral Puebloan history,
and the history of Mesa Verde as a National Park.
It is also free with your park entrance fee,
has restrooms, water, and is located
just in front of a spectacular overlook of Spruce Tree House!
The Mesa Top Loop drive also offers a self-guided experience
with 10 pullouts that represent each period of habitation
on the Mesa Verde –
from pit houses dating back 1400 years,
to dramatic canyon overlooks, where you can spot cliff dwellings
that are over 700 years old; one of those being Cliff Palace.
The Cliff Palace driving loop also offers views of Cliff Palace
and other cliff dwellings from various pullouts,
including a view of Balcony House via the 1.2-mile round trip
Soda Canyon Overlook trail.
This trail starts just past the Balcony House parking lot.
Both of these driving loops are free with your park entrance fee,
and are open from sunrise to sunset.
Speaking of pullouts - there are designated paved pullouts
spaced periodically throughout the park.
Please use these areas to allow faster traffic to safely pass,
and please pull off only in these designated areas
If you leave your vehicle while parked here,
please remain on the pavement or gravel shoulder, for your own safety.
Sandstone can be a fragile rock, and sliding or crumbling can
occur without warning, especially along roadsides and cliff sides.
We also ask that you stay on this gravel or pavement,
and on any designated hiking trail throughout the park,
for the sake of the natural resources.
Desert soils on the Colorado Plateau are delicate
and it can take decades to form the dark, bumpy, crust
crust that stabilizes wind-blown sands and provides nutrients
to support plant growth.
Off trail walking easily crushes filaments binding the crust together
and destroys the stable ecosystem that plants need to survive.
Be respectful, and leave no trace
so that future generations may also experience this breathtaking place.
Like most National Park sites, Mesa Verde is home to
hundreds of species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects.
Please remember to keep a safe distance of 100 yards
from any wildlife you may encounter.
This is for the safety of you, your fellow visitors, and the wildlife.
Mesa Verde’s inhabitants were unique individuals,
but they fit into a much larger group of peoples that lived and prospered
all throughout the Four Corners region.
You can see and learn much more about Indigenous American cultures
by visiting public lands throughout Southeast Utah, Northern Arizona,
Northern New Mexico, and Southwest Colorado.
Whether you plan to visit for a few days or a few hours,
we hope you enjoy your stay and that you come away
with more than when you arrived.