Is Mesa Verde National Park Worth the Trip?

Located in the southwestern corner of Colorado, Mesa Verde is absolutely worth visiting for anyone with an interest in North American history. Although you’ll see plenty of hiking trails and scenic viewpoints on any Mesa Verde National Park tours you take, the real stars of the show are the incredibly well-preserved archaeological sites within the park.

Mesa Verde contains over 5,000 historical sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. Most of these structures and remains were left by the Ancestral Pueblo people, sometimes also called the Anasazi, who lived in homes carved into the sides of cliffs. The largest of these dwellings, Cliff Palace, is located in Mesa Verde and was once home to over 100 people.

The first people to occupy Mesa Verde were Paleo-Indians, who arrived in the area almost 10,000 years ago. These tribes were nomadic, so they traveled between different areas throughout the year, most likely following the migration patterns of the animals they hunted. As the Archaic period of North American history began around 6000 BCE, the people living near Mesa Verde began making rock art on the cliffs, some of which still exists to this day.

Around 1000 BCE, the nomadic Archaic Puebloans started building permanent settlements in Mesa Verde. Historians refer to these people as the Basketmaker culture, named after the complex woven baskets that were discovered at archaeological sites. These people left more elaborate art on the rocks, including images of the hunchbacked flute player called Kokopelli by other southwestern tribes. By 750 CE, the Basketmaker people had developed into the Ancestral Puebloans, who were named after the interconnected stone and adobe mud pueblo huts they built.

The Ancestral Pueblo people lived in Mesa Verde for centuries, building complex towns and homes, including cliff dwellings like Cliff Palace. Eventually, a series of intense droughts in the 13th century destabilized the area, and by 1300, most of the Ancestral Puebloans had left, migrating south to Arizona and New Mexico. Today, many of their homes have been preserved and you can see them for yourself at the park.

To make the most of your trip, check out our Mesa Verde National Park Self-Guided Driving Tour, or you can sign up for Action+ and gain access to over 100 tours for a single yearly price.