The Four Corners Area - American Southwest - page 89

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Seeing the Highlights in a Day
If you have only a day to spend at the park, stop first at the Far View Visitor Cen-
ter to buy tickets for a late-afternoon tour of either Cliff House or Balcony
House—visitors are not allowed to tour both on the same day. Then travel to the
Chapin Mesa archeological museum for a look at the history behind the sites
you're about to see. From here, walk down the trail behind the museum to
Spruce Tree House. Then drive the Mesa Top Loop Road. Cap your day with the
guided tour.

The area was little known until ranchers Charles and Richard Wetherill chanced upon
it in 1888. Looting of artifacts followed their discovery until a Denver newspaper
reporter's stories aroused national interest in protecting the site. The 52,000-acre site was
declared a national park in 1906—it's the only U.S. national park devoted entirely to the
works of humans.
Fires have plagued the park in recent years, and burned trees and blackened ground
are evident today. Two lightning-induced fires blackened about 40% of the park during
the summer of 2000, closing the park for about 3 weeks. Officials said that although the
park's piñon-juniper forests were severely burned, none of the major archaeological sites
were damaged; in fact, the fires revealed some sites that they were not aware existed. Then
a lightning-induced fire struck again in the summer of 2002, closing the park for about
10 days. It destroyed several employees' homes, a sewage treatment plant, and phone and
power lines, and also damaged a water storage tank. Officials said that the only damage
to archaeological sites was the scorching of the wall of one ruin.
ESSENTIALS
ENTRY The park entrance is located on US 160, 10 miles east of Cortez and 6 miles
west of Mancos.
FEES & REGULATIONS Admission to the park for up to 1 week for private vehicles
costs $15 from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend and $10 the rest of
the year; rates for motorcyclists are $8 and $5, respectively. Tours of Cliff Palace, Balcony
House, and Long House are $3; ranger-guided tours of other areas are free. To protect
the many archaeological sites, the Park Service has outlawed backcountry camping and
off-trail hiking. It's also illegal to enter cliff dwellings without a ranger present. The
Wetherill Mesa Road cannot accommodate vehicles longer than 25 feet. Cyclists must
have lights to pedal through the tunnel on the entrance road.
VISITOR CENTERS & INFORMATION Chapin Mesa, site of the park headquarters,
museum, and a post office, is 20 miles from the park entrance on US 160. The Far View
Visitor Center, site of Far View Lodge, a restaurant, gift shop, and other facilities, is 15
miles off US 160. For a park brochure, contact Mesa Verde National Park, P.O. Box 8,
Mesa Verde, CO 81330 ( & 970/529-4465; www.nps.gov/meve).
HOURS & SEASONS The park is open daily year-round, but full interpretive services
are available only from mid-June to Labor Day. In winter, the Mesa Top Road and
museum remain open, but many other facilities are closed. The Far View Visitor Center
is open from mid-April through mid-October only, from 8am to 5pm daily. The Chapin

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