Mesa Verde - a review

We made a few stops along the way on our trip from CA to WI.  The first was Mesa Verde in CO and it was INCREDIBLE!  In short - it is the ancient home of the Pueblo Indians who built their homes into the alcoves of the mesa and pictures cannot do it justice.  Being on top of the mesa is amazing and walking and climbing around the pueblos and having the rangers describe what life was like for the Native Americans is crazy cool.

This is a picture of the cliff house pueblo.  This picture doesn't capture the scale of this pueblo and it doesn't readily show that the dwellings were 3 levels - it's an amazing thing.  So here's the run-down of what we did and saw and what we wish we had time for!  It includes where we stayed and a review of each step (hindsight is 20/20 - hopefully our lessons learned will be your good starting point!)

First Stop: Visitor Center (Mandatory!)

• This is off to your left before you enter the park
• It is where you can buy your tour tickets
• They have other places in the park to buy tickets but you cannot show up for a tour and buy a ticket there.  In my opinion - this is the easiest way to get a good understanding of the park and to secure tickets to create a schedule for your time there!
• Tours are given for the following pueblos: Cliff Palace, Balcony House and the Long House.
• This is also the best gift shop I think we saw (although we didn't return to it on our exit since we were off on the long trek to Idaho!)
• The visitor center also had an awesome exhibit.  If we had more time (we had rushed off to a tour) - it would have been great to spend a long time looking around.

Tour: The Cliff Palace (Ranger-led)

• The tour goes down some steep stairs (nothing to be all that concerned with - I carried the baby down behind an elderly woman who wasn't too stable and we both made it just fine...and joked about it later :-)
• And then you go around the bend and up a little to the alcove where the pueblo dwellings are and it is AMAZING!  You are right there in an alcove of the Mesa (which is a huge and beautiful thing itself) looking out over the canyon, sharing the SAME view as the pueblo Indians who made this alcove their home.  
• The total time of the tour is an hour.  Tours run every half hour so when you are there - there is a tour group in the ruins and when you are in the ruins, there is a tour group waiting to come in.  This is good to know when thinking of how and when to photograph the pueblo.    
• There is a little walking (all of which is exciting because you are climbing down and walking around and then climbing back up) but not an hour's worth of walking.  The remainder of the time is the ranger talking about the pueblos and the Native Americans and telling their story.  If you get a good ranger - this can be a very captivating tale but if you have an antsy two year old - this can be tough :-(  
• The Cliff Palace Tour is (apparently) easy to exit via a couple of short ladders and a baby screaming happens to echo when standing in the alcove and canyon :-)  
• So - bring the kids and if it goes badly - it's easy to make an exit. 

Tour: The Balcony House  (Ranger-led)

• This is the tour that they "warn" you about.  There is a little cave that you need to crawl through and a 30 foot ladder you need to climb.
• It is all completely manageable.  The ladder is tall but completely do-able.  I put the little guy in his back-pack for the tall climbs and the rest of the time, he hung out in my arms.
• The views on this tour are incredible and the history from this particular house in awesome.  You really have the chance to walk into the house and see the wood beams that once held the balconies and look into the kiva where the Native Americans had their ceremonies and really feel present.
• If you choose to do only one tour - THIS is the tour to pick.  It gives you the best views - the most movement (which the kids love) and the most history. 

Tour: The Long House  (Ranger-led)

• I'd love to write a review of this tour but unfortunately we chose not to do it.  The tour is two hours long and for our little guy who decided against napping, this would have been too much.  
• We decided to leave our tickets for somebody else (at every other tour there was always somebody who didn't know they had to buy a ticket so hopefully it helped somebody out)

Tour: Spruce Tree House (Self-guided)

• This tour is on the same mesa as the Balcony House and the Cliff Palace.  It is also close to another museum and its a short walk from the parking lot. 
• It is another great alcove and a very scenic trail walking down.
• The self-guided tours are great because they are as long as you make them!  You can really take your time and enjoy or snap a few pictures and move on.  

Tour: Step House (Self-guided)

• This ruin is on the other mesa; the mesa with the Long House.  
• It's a longer walk down to the ruin than the Spruce Tree House but it's worth it!

Tour: Badger House Trail (self-guided)

• This was the most educational trail/tour.
• Only a very small part of the mesa's Native American history was spent in the alcoves.
• The majority of their history was on the mesa tops where they evolved from living in holes dug in the ground to structures built above ground.  
• This is an easy but long walk.
• There is a chance you may see a "wild" horse!  You will definitely see horse poop though.
• The horses are actually feral horses that have escaped from the ranches surrounding the National Park.  The horses have spent many generations as "wild" horses.

Tour: some general notes

• The rangers are awesome!  We met some awesome rangers who love Mesa Verde and it shows.
• Rangers are people too: not all rangers were too excited to see our little guy and well - he's little and that's understandable.  Nothing to be upset about - just something to note and be respectful of.
• They have a nice Junior Ranger program - it was one of the easier ones that the kids have completed! 

Eats: Cafeteria

• Here is my recommendation for you regarding the cafeteria....don't and if you do - there is edible pizza and mediocre salad options.  
• If you spring for a burger - beware, they are warming them up in the toaster oven - the burgers are not getting grilled....and they taste like rubber.
• sorry - worst cafeteria food ever :-(

Eats: Metate Room

• This is the fancy dining room at the hotel.
• It is fancy but kids are welcome.
• The food is delicious and the view is great!
• It may not be the best food you've ever had...but you're in a National Park....on top of a mesa....eating delicious steak...it's worth the splurge!

Hotel: The Far View Lodge

• For a park hotel - these rooms ROCKED!  
• They were definitely small.
• They were definitely clean.
• They were more updated than other NPS hotels so that was nice.
• Although we had the "Kiva" room and not the "standard" room but I think they are similar
• You park right outside your room and you have a private balcony.  And that is why the room rocked....because of this view as you watched the sun set over the mesa:

A picture cannot show you how captivating and gorgeous the sunsets and the stars were.  We saw 7 shooting stars in one hour long star gazing session.  It was amazing!

Enjoy!