Day 6: Mesa Verde

After a long night punctuated by a noisy toilet and rickety heater, we awoke to a shining sun. My dad and I slowly got out of bed. We ate breakfast as we prepared for the day.

Frigid air greeted us once we stepped outside. Situated at 8,200 feet in elevation in the center of Mesa Verde, Far View Lodge offers great views. It’s also much colder here than it is in nearby towns below the mesa.

Mesa Verde is famous for its impressive collection of cliff dwellings. Ancestral Puebloans once lived among the sandstone cliffs in the park, constructing impressive houses and villages under the shelter of the cliffs. People lived in Mesa Verde as early as 7500 BC, and the first pueblos were constructed around 650 AD. The park is rich in history, offering days of education and exploration for hikers and historians alike.

(Almost) Everything is CLOSED!

Cliff dwelling tours are by far the most popular activity at Mesa Verde National Park. While the park is reasonably scenic and there’s enough there to do on your own schedule, there’s something to be said about exploring the park’s famous cliff dwellings. Cliff Palace, especially, is a marvel to behold from above but even better when you tour it up close.

Unfortunately, the National Park Service doesn’t start offering tours until May. For us, May was still two weeks away. In the off-season, you can explore Spruce Tree House and Step House on your own time. BUT, both were closed when we visited: Spruce Tree House due to rockfall danger, and Step House due to road construction on Wetherill Mesa. On top of this, Mesa Top Loop road, the hikes at Morefield Campground, Far View Sites, and the entirety of Wetherill Mesa were all closed.

These closures rendered the hikes at Chapin Mesa Museum and viewpoints along Cliff Palace Loop road as the only accessible activities at Mesa Verde National Park when we visited. Major oof.

Petroglyph Point

To start our short day at Mesa Verde, my dad and I rolled up to the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum. Though the museum was closed (no surprise there), we wanted to hike the Petroglyph Point Trail. This trail passes an overlook of Spruce Tree House, traverses a ledge below some sandstone cliffs, navigates a pine forest, and climaxes at a rock covered in ancient petroglyphs. In my opinion, it’s one of the best of the park’s few hikes.

When we arrived at the Spruce Tree House overlook, we encountered a group of girls from South Carolina. We swapped photo ops with them, bid them farewell on their way to Hot Springs (in Arkansas!), and began our hike.

Though not as breathtaking as our previous hikes, Petroglyph Point was perfectly pleasant. Cool air and chirping birds kept our spirits high as we navigated the trail. Beautiful views of the surrounding alcoves and cuestas greeted us as we walked. We reached the park’s namesake petroglyphs 30 minutes in. My dad and I spent a few minutes studying the artwork and pondering its meaning, then began our return to the car.

Cliff Palace

After completing the hike, we drove to the largest cliff dwelling in North America: Cliff Palace. Once home to 100 people, the dwelling underwent construction nearly 1,000 years ago. It contains 150 rooms and 23 circular “kivas,” underground rooms thought to be used for gatherings or housing for large families.

Plan your trip to Mesa Verde National Park

Though my dad and I couldn’t explore Cliff Palace up close, we were still able to view it from above. From the palace’s parking lot, it’s a short walk on a paved trail to an overlook of the structure. I can’t say my jaw dropped when we reached the overlook, but my face certainly cracked a smile.

Soda Canyon

From Cliff Palace, it’s a few miles’ drive to the Soda Canyon Overlook Trail. This is a short, ~1-mile trail that’s worth your time if you’re in the area. It leads to a series of three overlooks above Soda Canyon, one of which offers a good view of Balcony House. This is another cliff dwelling normally accessible via a tour, but – due to our circumstance – we had to settle for a distant look.

The other overlooks give you the chance to play Where’s Waldo? with some smaller cliff dwellings. One of the overlooks even provides a viewfinder for hikers to try and spot Puebloan structures nuzzled into the alcoves. Personally, I thought the game of “find the cliff dwelling” was rather fun.

An Underwhelming Departure

After Soda Canyon, we began our drive out of the park. I wanted to quickly complete the 2-mile Point Lookout hike to salvage some more enjoyment from the park. Sadly, we discovered that Morefield Campground – the hike’s trailhead – was also closed.

Wellp, that sucks.

To combat my bitterness, I pulled over to the Mancos Valley Overlook on the way out. It offered a nice view of the La Plata Mountains to the east, a small consolation for the underwhelming day.

After a mere 4 hours of visiting, we began our 4-hour long journey to Great Sand Dunes National Park. So long, Mesa Verde. I hope to enjoy you better next time…

30 national parks down, 33 to go…

To the Great Sand Dunes!

Honestly, the drive to our next destination was more interesting than our entire morning at Mesa Verde. We took US 160 eastbound, which winded through some stellar scenery. Tall cliffs, small mountain towns, pine forests, and the snow-covered Wolf Creek Pass all highlighted the drive.

To reach the national park, we had to cross a massive, flat basin after exiting the San Juan Mountains. This basin – San Luis Valley – is the source of the sand forming Great Sand Dunes. It’s an ancient lakebed that dried up hundreds of thousands of years ago. It’s also 40 miles wide and takes an hour of tedious driving to cross. The valley is flat, boring, and filled with farmlands. If it weren’t for the San Juan Mountains to the west and Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east, it would be indistinguishable from Kansas.

Once we entered the valley, I spotted the distant Great Sand Dunes over 40 miles away. As we crossed the extinct lakebed, the dunes gradually grew larger. As the dunes grew, so did my excitement.

Finally, we reached the entrance to Great Sand Dunes National Park. My dad snapped a photo of me with the entrance sign, then we drove to Piñon Flats Campground and began setting up camp.

Shane Bonness, the One and Only

As our tent and sleeping pads arose and the winds died down, a red Ford Taurus pulled into the campground. Shane Bonness – my best friend and harbinger of chaos – stepped out of the vehicle.

Friends of Paul in the Parks should know Shane from a number of my previous adventures. In addition to dozens of climbing trips and countless memories at Purdue, he’s also joined me in eight national parks. Highlights include a memorable week in Yosemite, an adventurous long weekend at RMNP, and a wild trip to Big Bend.

He’d agreed to drive down from Denver to join my dad and me for our day at Great Sand Dunes. At my request, he brought a variety of blankets and jackets for our (especially my dad’s) benefit. The forecast predicted a 16°F low, so we were preparing to fight the frigid cold.

We concluded the evening by sitting around a campfire and downing beers & whiskey while discussing politics. The discussion stayed civil (even if a little passionate) as Shane and my dad discussed some hot topics. Once the fire petered out, we retreated to our tents and buckled up for a cold night.