Mesa Verde National Park

The first stop on our Veterans’ Day road trip was Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde National Park served as the home of the Ancestral Pueblo (also known as Anasazi) tribes for several hundred years. They built their communities in cliff dwellings under and into the natural rock formations of the Four Corners area.

Address and location

The Visitor Center sits right off US 160. The main park sites are a 30+ minute drive on mountainy roads from there.

Cost

The entrance fee costs $25 during peak seasons per vehicle and $15 in the off-seasons. A yearly pass runs $50. As always, the America the Beautiful pass costs $80 and the military pass is free.

What to do

Mesa Verde offers a selection of guided and self-guided tours. While many of the cliff dwellings close seasonally, you can walk to overlooks and get a good view of the area. Several of the hiking trails throughout the whole park remain open all year (pending winter weather). We stopped at the Visitor’s Center for our National Park stamp then headed in to the park. Our first stop was the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum. It houses a lot of artifacts and exhibits about the eras of human occupation of the area. Definitely stop there. From there, head down to the Spruce Tree House. The house is one of the best preserved cave dwellings. The trail down to the overlook is rather steep.

We then drove over to the Cliff Palace, the largest cliff dwelling in the park. The stairs and trail to the Cliff Palace operate seasonally, so we went as far down as we could. If you visit during peak season, you can purchase a ranger-led tour to explore this palace.

Our final stop was one of the scenic parking spots along the main road. We enjoyed a Colorado bluebird sky and took in the gorgeous views of the valley. The San Juan mountains look beautiful in the distance.