MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK

Mesa Verde National Park is a mystery that has kept visitors coming to the park for a century now. And there is no doubt it will be luring visitors for centuries more to come. the park also houses more than 2 million artifacts, including extraordinary posts, baskets, bowls, mugs, and sandals. We can discover the mystery of the Ancestral Pueblo of Mesa Verde by driving 50 miles west of Durango. The Mesa Verde Park Headquarters is a one-hour drive from Cortez, Colorado, heading east on Highway US160 to the park turnoff. And a 1.5-hour drive heading west from Durango, Colorado, to the park turnoff. This historic site is the largest archeological site of Native American civilization in the country. It boasts more than 4700 points of interest, including more than 600 cliff dwellings. Mesa means table and Verde mean green.

After flouring in the elaborate stone communities, they built embedded into the canyon walls. This ancient culture disappeared and their disappearance remains a mystery to this date. The park also offers visitors 8,500 acres of federally designated wilderness. This supports a wide variety of animal species, including 74 species of mammals, 200 species of birds, 16 species of reptiles, five species of amphibians, six species of fishes, and over 1,000 species of insects and other invertebrates. The sites at Mesa Verde National Park are incredibly well preserved, and a visit to the park offers a glance back in time and a pristine reminder of the ancient culture that once dwelled there.

It offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Publeon. They dwelled there for over 700 years, beginning about 55 AD. Though best known for its magnificent and remarkably well-preserved cliff dwelling. Mesa Verde protects nearly 5000 known archeological sites. It is evidence of a society of over 4000 people who thrived on these plateaus. The Mesa Verde Park Headquarters is a one-hour drive from Cortez, Colorado, heading east on Highway US160 to the park turnoff, and a 1.5-hour drive heading west from Durango, Colorado, to the park turnoff.