Traveling through the Southwestern portion of Colorado, we planned a visit to the Mesa Verde National Park to view the cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Pueblo people. However, some unexpected surprises came with a visit to this national park.
Because we were pulling our travel trailer while visiting the park, we believed we would have to camp overnight in the Morefield Campground. The Mesa Verde National Park does not allow any trailers past the campground. After traveling through the park to Chapin Mesa, we can understand why. The road is very curvy and narrow.
The Morefield Campground fee is $20 per night. If you have a Senior Pass or Access Pass, the fee is $10 per night. However, we discovered, to our delight, a drop off parking lot for trailers right before the entrance to the national park. The trailer parking lot is free. Park security drive through it throughout the day and we had no issues leaving our camper.
Our second surprise about the Mesa Verde National Park is that you cannot tour the cliff dwellings without a reservation, except for the Step House per the map. However, more on the Step House area later. We stopped at the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum to see if any tickets were available to tour the cliff dwellings. The Ranger informed us that reservations must be made two weeks prior because they sell out quickly. You may be fortunate to grab a ticket if there is a cancellation for the day. But we were not that lucky.
So, if you do visit Mesa Verde National Park, and you do want to tour the cliff dwellings, be sure to register for a tour two weeks prior to when you are visiting on Recreation.gov. Do not do what we did and just show up thinking you can tour the cliff dwellings.
Now, back to the Step House. When we were there on July 7, 2024, the Wetherill Mesa that contains the Step House and the Long House was closed. The Step House is the only dwelling per the national park map that you can do a self-guiding tour. So, because we had no reservations for the cliff dwelling tours and the Wetherill Mesa was closed, we did not actually have the chance to enter any cliff dwellings.
Lomayestewa Family Dancers
One amazing thing we did get to see on our visit was the Lomayestewa Family Dancers. The Lomayestewa Family perform traditional Hopi dances once a year in the park in July. The cost is free. However, the dancers do ask for donations to help with the cost of traveling. We really enjoyed watching the young people dance while the older generations played the instruments. Towards the end, the family encourages spectators to join the dance. This was an opportunity Jessica could not miss, and she jumped up to join. We gave our word we would not post any pictures or videos of the dances, as they are traditional Hopi dances. However, if you ever find us and want to see the video, let us know.
Because we were unable to join any tours of the cliff dwellings, we drove the Mesa Top Trail and the Cliff Palace Loop. We stopped at most of the pull-offs on these loops to see various advantage points of the cliff dwellings and tour the pit houses. The Cliff Palace Loop was our favorite and has the best overlook for the Cliff Palace. However, the Balcony House pull-off is a bust unless you have reservations for the tour. You cannot see the Balcony House from this point.
The Mesa Verde National Park is worth seeing. However, we recommend if you are physically able, reserve a tour for the cliff dwellings. Otherwise, like us, you may only be able to see them from overlooks. If you visit this national park, also look out for the wild horses that roam inside it. After visiting the park, we decided to boondock overnight at the Super Walmart in Cortez, CO with many other RVs.