Mesa Verde: Dark Skies and Archaeology

Situated near the four corners region of southwest Colorado, Mesa Verde boasts deep mountain top views, dark skies, and the archaeology of an ancestral Pueblo civilization. Accessing the park was relatively easy. The park is located near several ski resorts so it is relatively accessible by road and air. I flew into Durango, CO and was able to reach Mesa Verde within 90 minutes of landing. Durango is a small airport, but it has plenty of daily connections through Denver so not bad at all.

The drive up to the park was definitely a trip. One needs to climb steep mountain roads most of the way to reach the park and sites within the park. The park itself is located on a series of mesas. It takes about 30-40 minutes from the park entrance to reach the archaeological sites, situated on two different mesas – Chapin Mesa and Wetherill Mesa.

Chapin Mesa is the more visited Mesa. Some of the most famous archaeological sites are located on this mesa and it is largely paved access. Wetherill Mesa is the quieter mesa. Wetherill’s roads terminate in a parking lot. All of the interesting sites must be accessed either via bike or hike.

Important – warning for visitors – this park is at altitude. Make sure to pack water and take your time when hiking, especially if you are not used to altitude. The conditions can get to you and wear you down pretty quickly if you don’t take care.

The big downside of this park – the rangers gate off the most interesting locations at night. As an astrophotographer, most of the sites you want to shoot at aren’t really accessible. Also, because people don’t respect important locations, most of the cliff houses cannot be accessed outside of an official tour. That being said, the tours are cheap and it’s definitely worth it to get down into a cliff house while visiting the site.

As per the usual high standards of the National Park Ranger Service, most rangers are extremely knowledgeable about their sites and can give you boat lodes of history and facts. I definitely appreciated my tour guide’s willingness to chat with me about the various pueblo cultures living in the four corners region and how they are different from one another.

I’ll let my pictures do most of the talking when it comes to what these ancestral pueblo sites looked like. I did the park in two days – which is the perfect amount of time to explore both mesas and see most of the major sites. I would highly recommend allocating a day per mesa when touring this location.