At park headquarters, 20 miles from entrance. Spruce Tree Lodge—Cabins,
tents, and meals. General store and curios. Free Government camp
ground. Firewood and water furnished.
MESA VERDE
_National Park_
· SEASON FROM MAY 15 TO OCTOBER 15 ·
The mesa verde, or green mesa, so-called because its juniper and piñon
trees give it a verdant tone, is 15 miles long by 8 miles wide. Rising
abruptly from the valley on the north side, its top slopes gradually
southward to the high cliffs bordering the valley of the Mancos River on
the south. Into this valley open a number of large high-walled canyons
through which occasionally, in times of heavy rain, raging torrents of
water flow into the Mancos. In the shelter of the caves that have been
eroded in the sides of these canyons are some of the best-preserved cliff
dwellings in America, built many centuries ago by a tribe of peace-loving
Indians who prized the security offered by the almost inaccessible caves.
In order to preserve these cliff dwellings Mesa Verde National Park was
created, but they are not the only attractions in the area. In the winter
the park is closed to travel by deep snow, but in the early spring the
blanket of snow is replaced by a mantle of flowers that change with the
seasons, and to the story of the prehistoric inhabitants is added an
absorbing story of nature that is peculiar to this mesa and canyon
country.
“The Mesa Verde region”, writes Arthur Chapman, “has many attractions
besides its ruins. It is a land of weird beauty. The canyons which seam
the mesa, all of which lead toward the distant Mancos River, are, in many
cases, replicas of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. While the summer
days are warm, the nights are cool, and the visitor should bring plenty
of wraps besides the clothing and shoes necessary for the work of
climbing around among the trails. It is a country for active footwork,
just as it was in the days of the cliff dwellers themselves. But when one
has spent a few days among the cedars and piñon pines of the Mesa Verde,
well named Green Table by the Spaniards of early days, he becomes an
enthusiast and will be found among those who return again and again to
this most unique of national parks to study its mysteries and its
beauties from all angles.”
The northern edge of the mesa terminates in a precipitous bluff,
averaging 2,000 feet above the Montezuma Valley. The general slope of the
surface is to the south, and as the main road to the ruins meanders back
and forth in heading each smaller canyon, many times skirting the very
brink of the great northern fault line, tremendous expanses of
diversified terrain are brought into view, first in Colorado and Utah,
then in Arizona and New Mexico.
A new scenic road approximately 1 mile in length branches from the main
highway at a point 8 miles beyond the entrance checking station and
ascends to the crest of Park Point, the highest part of the Mesa Verde
National Park, which attains an elevation of 8,575 feet above sea level.
From this majestic prominence the great Montezuma Valley, dotted with
artificial lakes and fertile fields, appears as from an airplane, while
to the north are seen the Rico Mountains and the Lone Cone of Colorado,
and to the east, the La Plata Mountains. To the west the La Sals, the
Blues, and Bears Ears, of Utah, dominate the horizon. Some of these
landmarks are more than 115 miles distant. Southward numerous deep
canyons, in which the more important cliff dwellings are found, subdivide
the Mesa Verde into many long, narrow, tonguelike mesas. The dark
purplish canyon of the Mancos River is visible in the middle foreground,
and beyond, above the jagged outline of the mesa to the south, the Navajo
Reservation, surrounded by the deep-blue Carrizos of Arizona and the
Lukachukai and Tunichas of New Mexico.
In the midst of this great mountain-enclosed, sandy plain, which, seen
from the mesa, resembles a vast inland sea surrounded by dark, forbidding
mountains, rises Ship Rock (45 miles distant), a great, jagged shaft of
igneous rock, 1,860 feet high, which appears for all the world like a
great “windjammer” under full sail. Toward evening the illusion is
perfect.
The distance from Park Point to Spruce Tree Camp, the park headquarters,
is 12 miles. The entire road from the park entrance to headquarters, 20
miles, is gravel surfaced and oil treated, full double width, and cars
may pass at any point thereon.
Although there are hundreds of cliff dwellings within the Mesa Verde
National Park, the more important are located in Rock, Long, Wickiup,
Navajo, Spruce, Soda, Moccasin, and tributary canyons. Surface ruins of a
different type are widely distributed over the narrow mesas separating
the numerous canyons. A vast area surrounding the park contains more or
less important ruins of these early inhabitants, most important and
easiest of access from the park being the Aztec Ruins and Chaco Canyon
National Monuments, New Mexico; the Yucca House National Monument,
Colorado; and the Hovenweep National Monument, Colorado-Utah.
[Illustration: Road map of Mesa Verde National Park, showing important
ruins on Chapin Mesa only.]