Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
southward-sloping Mesa Verde plateau, is the distant volcanic plug of Shiprock; and to the
west is Sleeping Ute Mountain, whose profile resembles a supine human.
Chapin Mesa
There is no other place in Mesa Verde where so many remnants of Ancestral Puebloan set-
tlements are clustered so closely together, providing an opportunity to see and compare
examples of all phases of construction - from pothouses to Pueblo villages to the elabor-
ate multiroom cities tucked into cliff recesses. Pamphlets describing the most excavated
sites are available at either the visitor center (
Click here
)
or Chapin Mesa Museum.
On the upper portion of Chapin Mesa are the Far View Sites, which make up what was
perhaps the most densely settled area in Mesa Verde after 1100AD. The large-walled
Pueblo sites at Far View House enclose a central kiva and planned room layout that was
originally two stories high. To the north is a small row of rooms and an attached circular
tower that probably once extended just above the adjacent 'pygmy forest' of piñon pine
and juniper trees. This tower is one of 57 in Mesa Verde that may once have served as
watchtowers, religious structures or astronomical observatories for agricultural schedules.
South from park headquarters, the 6-mile Mesa Top Rd circuit connects 10 excavated
mesa-top sites, three accessible cliff dwellings and many vantages of inaccessible cliff
dwellings from the mesa rim. It's open 8am to sunset.
Chapin Mesa Museum
MUSEUM
( 970-529-4475;
www.nps.gov/meve
; Chapin Mesa Rd; admission incl with park entry; 8am-6:30pm Apr-mid-
Oct, 8am-5pm mid-Oct-Apr; )
The Chapin Mesa Museum has exhibits pertaining to the
park. It's a good first stop. Staff at the museum provide information on weekends when
the park headquarters is closed.
Spruce Tree House
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
(Chapin Mesa Rd; admission incl with park entry; )
This Ancestral Puebloan ruin is the most
accessible of the archaeological sites, although the half-mile round-trip access track is still
a moderately steep climb. Spruce Tree House was once home to 60 or 80 people and its
