Our Visit to Mesa Verde National Park in CO

Already along our 10 day road trip through Colorado, we visited Colorado Springs, rode the The Royal Gorge Route Railway in Cañon City and hiked among the sand dunes in Great Sand Dunes National Park.

The third morning of our trip began with a 2.5 hour drive from where we stayed in South Fork, CO to Mesa Verde. Along the way was Pagosa Springs, where there are hot springs right along the river. We popped into town for breakfast and coffee at Root House Coffee. I loved the aesthetic here and it felt so cozy. We had a cinnamon roll, sausage biscuit bite, and coffees. It was one of the best cinnamon rolls we’ve ever had!

We continued on to the National Park since we had a tour booked in the early afternoon for Cliff Palace. We drove in and got our picture with the sign and then drove up to the Park Point Fire Lookout Tower for grand views. At the top, you can see Ute Mountain, Shiprock, and on to the Rocky Mountains. It was astonishing just how far you could see.

We drove into the back of the park which is quite a drive to get to the parking for Cliff Palace. We love listening to the Guide Along Tours and made sure to listen to this one along the way. We had some time before our tour so we made some sandwiches and had a parking lot picnic.

To be able to get down to Cliff Palace, which is one of the Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings, you have to book a tour. Cliff Palace has about 150 rooms that used to house around 100 people and is said to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America. It’s believed that it was used from 1190 AD through 1260 AD.

The tour guide we had is a descendant of the Ancestral Puebloan people. He shared a greeting or welcome as we entered into the dwelling and while explaining the kivas, shared the origin story of the Pueblo people. His knowledge and history he shared added so much to our tour and we are so grateful we got to learn from him.

The tour itself took about 1 hour and there were about 40-50 people along with us. You don’t realize just how large Cliff Palace is until all of you are down there and it still feels like there’s so much room. To get down into the dwellings, you do have to take some steeper stairs, but to get back up you have to take some ladders so this isn’t a tour that is for everyone but we loved it.

After our tour, we checked out the Far View Community section of the park and the above ground dwellings you could walk along and see which was so different than the Cliff Palace. We continued doing some scenic driving through the evening and then headed out of the park to our next stop which is one of the scariest drives I’ve ever done in my life. But stay tuned for that.

If we had more time in Mesa Verde, here are some of the additional spots we would have checked out:

• Petroglyph Point Hike
• Step House Tour
• Nordenscold Trail
• Spruce Tree House

After we wrapped up our trip in Colorado, Teddy and I always talk about what blew us away or was a little disappointing or where we’d visit again. While I had been to Mesa Verde before, he hadn’t so I wasn’t sure if he would be as into the history and culture as I would. But, looking back on the trip he said it was one of the favorite stops we did in Colorado, so we highly recommend it. While you can do parts of it in a day, I think spending 2-3 days in the area would be ideal.

On my solo trip to the park, I stayed at the Far View Lodge, right inside the park and absolutely loved it. The view from my balcony was ideal so if you can swing it, that’s my recommendation. Otherwise, you can stay in the town of Mancos at the Mesa Verde Hotel (would have been my pick) or in Durango which is a bit further out but has even more options.

If you’re in the area, do what you can to get to Mesa Verde. It’s rich in culture and history, and don’t forget to do the Guide Along driving tour. It makes the visit even better to know more about the park while you’re exploring.