The fire lookout at Park Point is the highest elevation (8571ft) in the park and offers panoramic views. To the north are the 14,000ft peaks of the San Juan Mountains; in the northeast are the 12,000ft crests of the La Plata Mountains; to the southwest, beyond the southward-sloping Mesa Verde plateau, is the distant volcanic plug of Shiprock; and to the west is Sleeping Ute Mountain, whose profile resembles a supine human.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
7.73 MILES
The only way to see the superb Cliff Palace is to take the hour-long ranger-led tour. The tour retraces the steps taken by the Ancestral Puebloans –…
3.59 MILES
A fascinating, if slightly eerie, national park. Anthropologists will love it here; Mesa Verde is unique among American national parks in its focus on…
13.55 MILES
Ute people once inhabited this entire region, from the San Luis Valley west into Utah, and, after a series of forced relocations and treaties from the…
8.25 MILES
Tickets are required for the one-hour guided tours of Balcony House, on the east side of the Cliff Palace Loop. A visit is an adventure that will…
14.32 MILES
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages the Anasazi Heritage Center, a good stop for anyone touring the area’s archaeological sites. It’s 3 miles…
7.51 MILES
On Wetherill Mesa, the magnificent Long House is the second-largest cliff dwelling in the park. A strenuous place to visit, it is only reached as part of…
8.35 MILES
Exhibits on the Ancestral Puebloans, as well as art displays, make this museum worthy of a visit if you have a few hours to spare. The adjoining Cultural…
7.12 MILES
Wetherill Mesa is the second-largest concentration of sites. Visitors may enter stabilized surface sites and two cliff dwellings, including the Long House…
Nearby attractions
3.59 MILES
A fascinating, if slightly eerie, national park. Anthropologists will love it here; Mesa Verde is unique among American national parks in its focus on…
5.86 MILES
The Chapin Mesa Museum has exhibits pertaining to the park and is a good first stop. Staff at the museum provide information on weekends when the park…
6.79 MILES
This Ancestral Puebloan ruin is the most accessible of the archaeological sites, although the half-mile round-trip access track is still a moderately…
6.81 MILES
The largest concentration of Ancestral Puebloan sites is at Chapin Mesa, where you'll see the densely clustered Far View Site and the large Spruce Tree…
7.05 MILES
Step House was initially occupied by Modified Basketmaker peoples residing in pithouses, and later became the site of a Classic Pueblo–period masonry…
7.12 MILES
Wetherill Mesa is the second-largest concentration of sites. Visitors may enter stabilized surface sites and two cliff dwellings, including the Long House…
7.51 MILES
On Wetherill Mesa, the magnificent Long House is the second-largest cliff dwelling in the park. A strenuous place to visit, it is only reached as part of…
7.73 MILES
The only way to see the superb Cliff Palace is to take the hour-long ranger-led tour. The tour retraces the steps taken by the Ancestral Puebloans –…