Mesa Verde is just another of our special places, magical, eerie, even sad. I’ve made three trips here, and I’m sure they won’t be my last. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the park protects perhaps our very best-preserved cliff dwellings, believed to have been built by Ancestral Puebloans. The first pueblos were built circa 600 A.D., and by 1100 A.D., construction of the largest of the dwellings had begun. Unfortunately, several decades of drought affected the entire Southwest, and by the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Puebloans began abandoning their cliff homes. It is believed that all had moved on by the beginning of the fourteenth century. When you visit today, lots of hikes along the plateau can provide bird’s eye views of some of the dwellings. My favorites include Spruce Canyon, Soda Canyon (which takes you just above Balcony House), Nordenskiold Site No. 16, and Petroglyph Point (cool petroglyph panel!). The park service also offers ranger-guided tours (for a nominal fee) of three dwellings: Cliff Palace (perhaps the largest in the Americas), Long House, and Balcony House. This is truly the best way to see the dwellings, but these hikes do require climbing many large ladders to ascend into them — and then back up onto the plateau. But don’t let that deter you at all; you MUST see these homes up close and personal! The campground is well-maintained — and frankly delivers absolutely stunning scenery. Far View Lodge provides non-fancy but efficient lodging (it is the park service after all) in a gorgeous setting. You can’t go wrong either way.
