Explore the Park
Mesa Verde is the most subtle park within the collection of National Parks centered around the Grand Canyon. That makes it an excellent choice to start with if that works for your plans.
The entrance to Mesa Verde is located about 25 miles east of Cortez, CO on RT 160. At the entrance gate you will get a park map showing the way to the facilities and ruins.
Mesa Verde is the most subtle park within the collection of National Parks centered around the Grand Canyon. That makes it an excellent choice to start with if that works for your plans.
The entrance to Mesa Verde is located about 25 miles east of Cortez, CO on RT 160. At the entrance gate you will get a park map showing the way to the facilities and ruins.
The road once inside the park takes you up onto this giant mesa. The road up here has many twists and turns to get up here, once on top it levels out.
The area is very dry.
The ruins tend to be tucked under the edges of rock ledges.
Spruce Tree House is a ruin you can visit without singing up for a guide to take you through.
This is the path that takes you down the side of the valley, you then cross over and walk up into the site of Spruce Tree House.
This is a view of Spruce Tree from the trail.
After a bit you come out of some trees and you are there.
As a visitor to the park you can walk all round Spruce Tree House on designated areas, park rangers are there to inform and keep guests in line.
This is a kiva without the wood roof. There is a restored kiva that you can climb down into, peyote is not provided. The ledge you see on the kiva wall functioned as a bench.
We had a great lunch right in the park, by the time I get around to eating I am usually very hungry and in no mood to wait for table service. We found a taco bar, I made up great big salad with lots of meat and cheese.
Cliff House is a site you need to sign up to see. You are sent through in groups with the help of a park ranger.
The park ranger shows you the way,
and up you go.
This place is very special and worth the effort to plan for.
There are also places where you can go into a re constructed kiva.
You enter this park from the top of the map, with the concentration of sites deeper into the park.
Depending on your timing and driving interest you could push on to Moab, UT
about 170 MI and 3 Hours of driving time.
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