Beginning July 4, Wetherill Mesa Road will open at 7 a.m. MDT. The gate at the Petroglyph Point and Spruce Canyon Trailhead will also open at 7 a.m. MDT.

“Providing opportunities to explore the park during the cooler morning hours will allow more visitors to access the trails and sites and make for a safer and more enjoyable visit,” Superintendent Cliff Spencer said. 

After 1.5 years, the park is excited to safely offer cliff dwelling tours to various sites again in 2021. Ranger-assisted tours of Long House this year have been structured to promote safety while providing an enhanced experience for visitors.

These innovative tours of the park's second largest cliff dwelling offer visitors an opportunity to explore the site at their own socially distanced pace while still receiving in-depth information about Ancestral Pueblo and modern Pueblo heritage. The park has received positive feedback about the safety of these tours and how informative they are. The park will increase the number of tickets available for this tour beginning July 4.  

Mesa Verde National Park offers many self-guided opportunities to view archeological sites, learn about indigenous history, and explore the outstanding natural resources of southwest Colorado.  The Mesa Top Loop remains open and stops along the route provide excellent views of mesa top and cliff dwelling sites, including Cliff Palace and Square Tower House.

An exceptional audio tour and guide booklet are available. The audio tour can be downloaded from the park website at www.nps.gov/meve or as a podcast. The Mesa Top Loop guide is available at the first stop along the 6-mile loop.  The Far View Sites is an easy three-quarter-mile walk through pinyon-juniper forest that connects a community of mesa-top farming villages and an ancient reservoir. 

Wetherill Mesa offers additional opportunities for self-guided experiences within the park. Step House is a self-guided cliff dwelling that can be visited between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. daily. Rangers are available within the site to answer questions and a guide booklet is available. Please be prepared for a one-mile, round-trip hike with minimal shade. The 5-mile paved Long House Loop begins at the kiosk and leads to several paved and unpaved trails you can hike or bicycle. Though dogs are not allowed in Step House, they are allowed on the Long House Loop. 

Visitors can purchase tickets for cliff dwelling tours at www.recreation.gov up to 14 days in advance of the tour date starting at 8 a.m. MDT.