Mesa Verde National Monument is the largest and one of the best-preserved archaeological sites in the United States, with over 5,000 known sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. We were excited to visit it, but alas, we were a couple of weeks too early, as some notable areas were still closed for the season. There are ranger-led, guided tours where you can climb up ladders to go into and explore the pueblos up close, but the earliest these start is early May.
Visitor Center & Research Facility
Our first stop was the outer visitor center which was also a research facility. Here they housed thousands of artifacts in rows of vaults that were not open to the public (other than catching a glimpse through a window). There was also a small museum showcasing early life at Mesa Verde and a gift shop.
Spruce Tree House Museum
We were able to drive one of the scenic roads to check out the Museum and Spruce Tree House Area), which included Spruce Tree House, Chapin Mesa Museum, Cliff Palace and Balcony House. The museum has an informative video shown every 30 minutes, and a museum, which houses a ton of really cool artifacts. One of the interesting exhibits is of people who have had remorse from taking artifacts, and have returned them with a letter of apology! There’s also a gift shop in the museum, where you can get free rocks! Lisette took a shiny black rock, which could maybe be a paperweight one day..?! Not sure yet, but it’s living in the front of the RV at the moment, next to her lip balm and some chargers.
Cliff Palace & Other Dwellings
Our first stop was the Cliff Palace where we were surprised to see the best preserved cliff dwelling we've seen so far. It was amazing to see how well-preserved the palace was.
Spruce Tree House
Spruce Tree House is right next to the museum, and it’s the third biggest cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde, built sometime between 1211 and 1278 CE and tucked into a huge natural alcove. While we only viewed it from a distance, we could see that it had a lot of rooms (13), and kivas or ceremonial rooms (8 in total). around 130 rooms and 8 kivas (those are ceremonial rooms). About 60 to 80 people probably lived there. It was discovered back in 1888 by two ranchers looking for lost cattle. Thanks to the shelter of the alcove, about 90% of what can be seen today, like the walls, wood, and plaster, is all original.
There’s a trek to see Spruce Tree House, and we did a short distance of it, which includes the opportunity to see petroglyphs and more natural alcoves cut into the rock. As we walked back, we noticed several vultures swooping around the tall trees in the area, and spent a bit of time watching them as they flew around and likely hunted for food.
Creations from Mufflers
Not far from Mesa Verde National Monument in the town of Cortez, is an eccentric and bewitching attraction: “Creations from Mufflers,” filled with sculptures of miniature cowboys, aliens, musicians, farmyard animals, and other creatures made from mufflers and spare metal parts then painted in white. There are literally hundreds of these little characters in different settings scattered throughout this stop alongside the side of the road. We walked down the sloped hill and through the overgrown grass to take in these meticulous characters that had been developed.
These creations are all the work of one person, who explains on a sign that this has been their hobby since 1993. They’re not a welder, but have been able to bring the creations to life with tack and cheap white paint (and certainly a lot of imagination and creativity)! The sign ends with some sound advice: “Enjoy your time, watch the kids, shut the gate on your way out.”
Chimney Rock
After this pit stop, we crossed the border from Colorado back into Utah. While driving towards the Four Corners we stopped to take a few pics of Chimney Rock before continuing on, where we found a slightly elevated spot to park on the side of the road. While the spot would have been quiet and peaceful, we had a fairly disruptive sleep, with strong gales of wind blowing and reverberating into the RV, followed by rain in the early hours of the morning.
Route Map
