The National Park Service has nine PDF files
outlining the hours of operation throughout
the year. Please visit the
NPS.Gov website for details.
The park is opened daily year round.
The PDF files listing the park hours were
not functioning at the time of this post.
If you cannot access those files, please
call the park at (970) 529-4465
Mesa Verde National Park is the historical
home of the Pueblo people as late as the
13th century. Tours of cliff dwelling.
More than 4,000 archeological sites exist in
the park and 600 of those sites are cliff
dwellings. Tours of some of the most
prominent sites are self guided but, ranger
guided tours are available as well and the
fees are $3.00. Tours of these cliff
dwellings include the Cliff Palace, Balcony
House and the Long House (tickets available
at the Far View Visitor Center (see the
NPS.Gov website for details)). The
weather is rather mild with typical days
being warm to hot and the evenings cool.
Snow is common as early as October and as
late as May. Entrance fees are
dependent on the time of year and range from
$10 to $15 dollars. The entrance fees
are valid for one week, which is convenient
in planning your vacation to the area.
The park offers bird watching, hiking,
wildlife, evening campground programs, which
means camping is permitted in designated
areas (see the
NPS.Gov website for details), hiking and
cross country skiing. The cross
country skiing in this area has not be
available often during the past years due to
the climate changes but, it is a beautiful
and peaceful area offering solitude.
You can call the park directly during the
winter to get ski reports. Being away
from big cities, the stargazing is beautiful
and if you are considering camping, two
options are available. The most
popular is Morefield Campground with 435
sites available and each site includes a
table, bench and grill. Morefield is
also open to RVs, entrance to some of the
more popular hiking trails and an
all-you-can eat pancake breakfast at the
Café in Morefield's full-service village.
A base camp is the other option and the
campground offers a 10X12 Canvas tent, which
includes flooring two cots and a lantern.
The area is surrounded by Oak, flowers
native to Colorado, deer and wild turkey.
This is another paradise offered by the
National Park Service.
The hiking trails are plenty and include
eight different trails all offering
spectacular views. The include the
Prater Ridge Trail, Knife Edge Trail, Point
Lookout Trail, Petroglyph Point Trail,
Spruce Canyon Trail, Soda Canyon Overlook,
Framing Terrace Trail and Nordenskiold Site.
The
NPS.Gov website offers PDF maps to all
the trails. The Farming Terrace Trail
is shortest at 0.5 miles and leads to a
prehistoric dam built by the Puebloans for
farming. Another shorter hike that
offers views of the cliff dwellings is the
Soda Canyon Overlook at 1.2 miles.
Petroglyph Point Trail is 2.4 miles and
offers views of the Spruce and Navajo
Canyons and is the only hiking trail where
visitors can view the petroglyphs.
Point Lookout Trail is 2.2 miles and offers
views of the Montezuma and Mancos valleys.
For avid hikers, the Prater Ridge Trail is
7.8 miles but, offers a cut off that
shortens the hike to around five miles.
The hiking, camping, archeology, wildlife
and night skies make Mesa Verde Park a good
choice for a National Park vacation.
Operating Hours
Rocky Mountain National Park is open 24/ 7,
365 days a week. For operating hours
of the Alpine Visitor Center, Beaver Meadows
Visitor Center, Corral Creek Information
Station, Fall River Visitor Center,
Holzwarth Historic Site, Kawuneeche Visitor
Center, Moraine Park Visitor Center and
Sheep Lakes Information Center, please visit
the
NPS.Gov website. Also visit the
NPS.Gov website for campground operating
seasons and hours of Aspenglen Campground,
Glacier Baskin Campground, Glacier basin
Group Sites, Longs Peak Campground, Moraine
Park Campground and Timber Creek Campground.
Fees
for park entrance are required and
reservations for camping. The fee per
vehicle is $20.00 and $10.00 for individuals
on foot, bicycle or motorcycles. For
detailed information on fees and
registration visit the
NPS.Gov website.
Rocky Mountain National Park offers scenic
drives, fishing, boating, mountain climbing,
camping, picnicking, hiking, wildlife
viewing, horseback riding and winter
activities. The park has an abundant
selection of campgrounds with many
amenities. The park is 416 square
miles of mountain wilderness with the
highest summit of Longs Peak at 14,259 feet
above sea level. The summit is the
size of a football field and offers stunning
views. The scenic drives are
outstanding with the roads going through
many types of terrains starting out with the
lowlands, crossing rivers and through
sub-alpine forests climbing to heights above
12,000 feet. Two of the most popular
scenic drives are the Trail Ridge Road and
the Old Fall River Road. The Trail
Ridge Road is one of the top wonders of the
National Parks where the terrain changes as
often as the turns and climbing over 4,000
feet in minutes to views of the entire park.
The Trail Ridge Road was the first road
through Rocky National Park and is a more
natural or nature drive that is mostly
gravel and one-way. It starts at
Horseshoe Park and leads through wilderness
areas and ends at Fall River Pass, which is
11,796 feet above sea level. Rocky
Mountain National Park can easily be a one
week or more vacation for the scenic driving
alone can take an entire day.
Rocky Mountain National Park offers five
campgrounds, which are the Aspenglen
Campground, Glacier Basin Campground, Longs
Park Campground peaking, Moraine Park
Campground and timber Creek Campground, all
at 8000 ft. or more above sea level.
The
NPS.Gov offers photos and detailed
information about fees and amenities, which
include spaces for recreational vehicles,
restrooms and running water. Many of
the sites recommend reservations and some
campgrounds are seasonal. Along with
camping areas are 355 miles of hiking areas
that are located in all areas of the park
located next to lakes, to high mountain
hikes up to 12,000 ft. above sea level.
Winter hikes and mountain climbing trails
are also available within the park.
Winter park hikes are possible without skis
or snow shows on trails below 8, 700 ft.
The most popular and highest mountain climb
is Longs Peak topping off at 14, 259 ft.
above sea level. The hike is eight
miles is normally free of ice during the
summer but, conditions change often during
the winter. Continuing on basically
the same topic that includes trails is
biking, picnicking and horseback riding, all
offered at Rocky Mountain National Park.
Last but, not least is the fishing in the
park. Over 30 lakes are available for
fishing but, some lakes in the park fishing
is not permitted. Check the NPS.Gov
website for the list of lakes where fishing
is available. The fishing species
include rainbow, Brown, Colorado River
Cutthroat, Greenback Cutthroat Trout and
Brook Trout. Rocky Mountain National park
offers so much that even a two week vacation
can be planned with the available scenic
tours, hiking, campgrounds, horseback
riding, boating, fishing but, plan your
vacation carefully to know limits such as
camping grounds during the summer have a
seven day limit. Feel free to call
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National Park Maps
Mesa Verde National Park
Map Detailed maps can brochures
can be ordered from the NPS website or if you have a GPS device then
you may enter the address of the National Park head quarters. Feel free to
call Peabody Travel if we
may assist in planning your vacation. Request forms will be available
soon.
