Mesa Verde had been on my bucket list for a long time.
The most complete archeological preserve in the United States, with over 4,500 active digging sites, Mesa Verde also contains over 600 discovered cliff dwellings created by the Pueblo people– including some of the largest and finest examples of these ancient dwellings that exist.
I rocked up to the visitor’s center and spoke with the rangers– a stop I always make when entering a new national park. It helps me get the most out of my visit to simply outline with the ranger 1. what I enjoy doing (hiking 4-8 miles with some gain, if possible), 2. what I’d like to get out of my visit (seeing the most famed ‘Cliff Palace,’ in this case), and 3. what limits exist for my dog (what trails he can go on, etc.), and 4. camping opportunities– the campgrounds of popular National Parks are often booked out months in advance– especially in summer– but they had availability for 2 nights for me, without advance booking.
The sculpture works outside the visitor’s center were beautiful– the one on the left featuring an ancestral Puebloan climbing down a cliff face, carrying wood to burn– created by Edward J. Fraughton, the impact of the sculpture was multiplied by seeing the wide vista in the background. It was also a reminder that these folks had quite a long way to fall, if they put a toe out of place.
It was a high-stakes way to live, to live among a long series of high-perched cliff faces.
The 10-mile drive into the valley was beautiful– rolling hills with brushy greenery atop the mesa. While the climate was dry, the place had enough rainfall, snowfall, and water retention to support green plants, including loads of juniper trees, which gave off a wonderful fragrance when the heat was high.
Looking at the cliff faces throughout the valley, you had to keep your eyes open– what looked like a typical cliff face likely contained a dwelling or two. People at vistas were often pointing them out for one another– telltale signs being natural arches, which tended to have buildings inset into them. Just looking at the photos above, you’ll see there are several small structures tucked into random nooks.
Here’s something important to know about Mesa Verde– while in the past, it was a self-guided park, in which you could walk among the cliffside dwellings and ruins alone– today, you MUST make a reservation with a tour guide to see the majority of the dwellings– in fact, none of the most famed dwellings are available without making a booking on www.recreation.gov.
The two most impressive dwellings are Balcony House and Cliff Palace, as Balcony House is the most complete and Cliff Palace is one of the largest in the world, so I booked tickets for these two.
My first tour was of Balcony House– a helpful ranger met us at the top of a mesa, and mentioned this tour would include A. ladders and B. heights– as Balcony House was accessible only via sturdy ladders anchored into the rock. He did manage to dissuade a few people from going. (So my other hot tip for Mesa Verde is that if you can’t get a ticket, try hanging out near the ranger gathering for Balcony House, and you may gain a ticket from someone who decides they are not able to go).
The ladder to enter was not original to the structure (obviously), but the ranger took a moment to point out the footholds and handholds that native Puebloans would have used, which were still visible.
Created between about the years 650 and about 1285, these structures housed Pueblo tribes that primarily survived based on agriculture– beans, corn, and squash were their main crops, which they likely grew on top of the mesas, as they cleared the trees for burning campfires. They also hunted small game like rabbits, and larger game like mule deer or elk. They also gathered fruit and seeds from plants like the prickly pear and yucca.
Interestingly, the ranger pointed out that the cliff dwellings were produced quite late in the lengthy time this area was occupied– meaning folks largely just lived atop the mesas for hundreds of years, but at some later-stage, decided to use the cliffs for housing– undertaking these huge construction projects.
It was awe-inspiring to see the sandstone bricks, pasted in place with early mortar made of adobe. The circular structures within the dwellings (see below) were kivas, the spiritually-signficiant areas present in other ancient areas I’d visited like Chaco Canyon and Bandelier. The more vertical structures, resembling towers, were either for guarded food storage or served as lookouts.
Balcony House had 45 rooms and 2 kivas within it,
Of course, these were sophisticated structures that had predecessors– ‘pit houses’ were nothing more than dug-out areas in mud with thatched roofs, but despite the seeming unrelated nature– these original dwellings that used early techniques that would later be perfected as cliff dwellings.
The wood within the constructions themselves was largely original, which was stunning– you can see a beam below that has survived for nearly a thousand years (the wood was carbon dated to 1278). Just as with Chaco Canyon, the dry climate had allowed these original wood beams to survive. As with Chaco, the builders of the dwellings oriented them toward maximizing sunlight in winter and minimizing the hot rays in the summer.
Some experts speculate that pottery was actually INVENTED right here in the Four Corners Region– others say it was introduced from elsewhere. Either way, Puebloan pottery from this era were some of the more sophisticated and beautiful works– black-and-white designs could get intricate. Evidence from Mesa Verde points to each dwelling having a potter.
At its peak, Mesa Verde housed about 22,000 people. But population declines began when a 70-year drought struck the area, and unusual cold snaps occurred– the last tree was believed to be cut from the mesas in 1281, hastening what many archeologists believe was the beginning of a migration that took the people of Mesa Verde on to different pastures. Others claim that warfare between native populations increased as the climate situation worsened, which also could have led to relocation.
There is no definitive reason that these structures were abandoned as people dispersed– but as they left, people left behind utensils, tools, and clothing and other implements that led some archeologists to speculate that leaving was more rushed. The reason migration was agreed-upon?– very specific black-and-white pottery these Puebloans created would then pop up elsewhere in later layers of sediment, showing the people had dispersed.
The campsites were beautiful and surprisingly quiet, despite containing dozens of sites in each loop. I brought groceries and cooked at the campsite, as everyone did– unlike more developed parks, there were not facilities such as stores or minimarts– just a small, under-stocked campstore with basics.
Ranger talks took place every night around 9 PM, in which a ranger shared about the animal life within the park. They talked a bit about bears, which are always a concern in Colorado, and spoke about the different pottery shapes and uses as well. The only museum in the park was damaged by fire, but is currently being re-constructed, but the artifacts are still on display.
And while some National Park museums are dull, this one was well worth it– the artifacts were so sophisticated and well-made, they survived for hundreds of years. The intricacy of the designs and craftsmanship was really a sight to behold, knowing it was done entirely by-hand and with rudimentary tools and pigments.
The most majestic ruin of all was named ‘Cliff Palace’– though there is zero evidence this was any kind of palace or ceremonial site. It was named by those who “discovered” it, who merely speculated about how these were used. The reality is, most of these structures housed families for daily living, and also provided spiritual space as well as storage, etc. (contrast that with Chaco Canyon, which scholars now believe was largely used for ceremonial purposes).
The Cliff Palace site sits within a huge valley, and can be seen at the lower photo on the left below, from across the valley (if you squint, it’s near the bottom). The valleys were so vast, it made one wonder if they even found all of the sites existing there.
When Cliff Palace was seen from the same side of the valley, from up above, the scale and grandeur of the site became clear.
We met up with the ranger at the top of the entrance to a staircase that would descend into the structure– unlike Balcony House, which climbed up precariously, Cliff Palace was a gradual and easy descent down a half-mile trail (though there would be a few short ladders to ascend out).
The ranger shared that Cliff Palace contained 150 rooms– with over 23 kivas inside, it likely housed 125 individuals. While we could not walk throughout the entire structure, and had to keep in the path to. the front– the impact of being swallowed up by this vast series of rooms was really incredible.
He also said the rooms were at one point painted with bright colors– something that truly surprised me. Archeologists are not sure why they were painted, but our ranger mused that perhaps showing personal style was always part of the human condition.
Sadly, Mesa Verde was discovered long before it was set aside and protected in 1908 by Teddy Roosevelt– it was widely-publicized in 1873, when found by a trapper, and attracted many who came to explore (and loot) the site. A Swede named Gustaf Nordenskold visited in 1891 and removed thousands of artifacts from the site and shipped them overseas to the National Museum of Finland. While this was undoubtedly a loss, it motivated conservation efforts around the site.
This was not an isolated incident– the Secretary of the Interior at the time said “hundreds of specimens there have been carried down the mesa and sold to private individuals. Some of these objects are now in museums, but many are forever lost to science.” He described rooms destroyed to let light in, and ceiling beams of the Cliff Palace being used for firewood for campers who camped right within the ruins.
(For further reading on the subject of taking objects from their resting places, see the book “Finders Keepers” by Craig Childs — a truly excellent read that centers on the Four Corners region and the plunder of the historic items inside it).
Also a disappointing part of Mesa Verde’s history stemmed from something The National Park Service did. In conflict with the wishes of the Ute tribe, the park began offering “Indian ceremonies” within these sites. While popular with tourists, these false rituals were not consistent with the Pueblo tradition– and in fact, were often performed by Navajo dancers. It was a gross misstep by the park.
Today, the ranger explained the Park Service since realized the error of its ways, and now offers private visitation for decedents of the Ute and Pueblo tribes, granting them access to all areas of the park, even those closed to tourists. That said, the history between tribes and the park service at Mesa Verde is fraught — and of course, nothing can truly make up for the early desecration of these sites.
Cliff Palace was a truly amazing to behold– and after listening to the ranger stories about the difficulties with the tribes, I was reminded of what my buddy said while we traveled through Carlsbad Caverns– that there is no true way to observe without bringing incidental damage. By merely having our feet on and around this site, we were contributing to its decline– while also hoping to appreciate and pass on the great history of the people who built it.
In case you were wondering if the ruins were preserved or restored in any way– they were. They were ‘stabilized’ over the years, sometimes using techniques that worked well, and sometimes using ones that didn’t (the ranger pointed out concrete that was poured in an effort to fill a crack, then created problems all its own). Because Cliff Palace is built on dirt and soil, not into bedrock– the structure is moving at different rates and in different directions. Which was a reminder that despite how stony and permanent these structures might seem, they are still very fragile.
Between the late 1990s and 2003, the park experienced a deep singe by wildfires– started by lightning, the fires burned fully half of the park– over 28,000 acres were damaged, including park buildings and worse yet, harming some archeological sites. Fire was so damaging that it was cited within the official Mesa Verde welcome video as a real threat to the park’s future.
Contrast the burned area (which has been recovering for 20 years at-left) with the healthy, unburned photo on the right. This, as well as the shifting sands under Mesa Verde’s grand buildings, was an indication of how impermanent these wonderful national parks and monuments can be– and increased my gratitude ever-further as I departed the park.
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