Before I visited Mesa Verde National Park, I really had no idea what the place will be looked like except the famous image of Cliff Palace, as a result, I really surprised when I drove pass the entrance of national park to reach my hotel in Cortez and saw the whole stunning mountain and winding road to reach the top of the mesa, really beautiful but I really concerned that my small compact rental car would be capable to take me there or not after many slow climb on Colorado mountain road. In the next morning around 8.30 AM when I approached the visitor center to buy ticket to see Cliff Palace and Balcony House, the 11.00 AM ticket of Cliff Palace tour was already sold out, so I got my slot at 12.30 PM instead. The visitor center itself was quite impressive and the statue in front of the center was really nice to see. I drove slowly to the top of mesa. The road turned out to be quite easy to drive and the view was really great.

Unfortunately, I was unable to be on time for the Balcony House tour, so I decided to take the Mesa Top Loop Road instead. This scenic route has nice view of the Navajo Canyon and some ancient pit houses which are fine. The best part of the loop is the Sun Temple since apart from the ruins, the Cliff Palace can be seen from this spot and the view is really photogenic. Then I went to the Spruce Tree House, this place can be explored without tour. The pathway down to the ruin is quite steep, but the ruins are really must see especially if you cannot secure ticket to the Cliff Palace. I skipped my lunch in order to be at Cliff Palace on time. The view of Cliff Palace from the waiting area is truly stunning and actually the best place to take photo, so even you don’t have tour ticket, you still can admire the place. I saw many tourists disappointed to learn that they have to buy ticket at visitor center not at the site. The tour was really nice, the palace is very interesting, mysterious, really one of the best archeological sites of USA and not surprising to be one of the first World Heritage Site of this country. The tour ends with ladder climb which was very easy even for senior people or with the baby.

One of most interesting information from the Cliff Palace tour is that at present many archaeologists and historians start to believe that the people who built Mesa Verde may not be Ancestral Pueblo, as commonly understand. The park is planning to change all information to update the new study. Nevertheless, the people of Mesa Verde were one of the most developed civilizations in this area with evidence of sophisticating irrigation system for farming. Another fact and really shocking is that the whole Cliff Palace is slowly sliding to the below canyon and the engineer are trying to stop this problem in order to preserve this impressive heritage. In my opinion Mesa Verde is the must see of USA and the best place to see impressive culture of Native American. Actually, the whole Mesa Verde is impressive and can be a mixed World Heritage Site for its cultural and natural wonders.