Sights in Southwestern Colorado
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
A
Balcony House
Tickets are required for the one-hour guided tours of Balcony House, on the east side of the Cliff Palace Loop. The tour could prove a challenge for those with a fear of heights or small places. But it includes outstanding views of Soda Canyon, 600ft below the sandstone overhang that once served as the ceiling for 35 to 40 rooms.
Visitors must descend a 100ft-long staircase into the canyon, then climb a 32ft-tall ladder, crawl through a 12ft-long tunnel and climb an additional 60ft of ladders and stone steps to get out. It's not recommended for people with medical problems. The most physical tour in the park, it's also the most rewarding, not to mention fun!
reviewed
-
B
Cliff Palace
The only way to see the superb Cliff Palace is to take an hour-long ranger-led tour that retraces the steps taken by the Ancestral Puebloans. This grand representative of engineering achievement, with 217 rooms and 23 kivas, provided shelter for 250 or 300 people.
Its inhabitants were without running water. However, springs across the canyon, below Sun Temple, were most likely their primary water sources. The use of small 'chinking' stones between the large blocks is strikingly similar to Ancestral Puebloan construction at distant Chaco Canyon.
reviewed
-
C
SSpruce Tree House
The most accessible of the archaeological sites, although the paved half-mile round-trip access path is still a moderately steep climb. Spruce Tree House was once home to 60 or 80 people and its construction began around AD 1210. Like other sites, old walls and houses have been stabilized.
Rangers are on hand to answer questions and offer free guided tours from November to April at 10am, 1pm and 3:30pm.
reviewed
-
D
Box Canyon Falls
This is a popular short walk from town, or you can drive to the signposted carpark off Box Canyon Rd. The waterfall is 285ft high and issues thousands of gallons of water each minute over a spectacular drop. The immediate area around the falls is rich in birdlife - the protected black swift nests in the rock-face. They are in Box Canyon Park, which has a modest entry fee.
reviewed
-
Mesa Verde National Park
A fascinating, if slightly eerie, national park. Anthropologists will love it here; Mesa Verde is unique among American national parks in its focus on maintaining this civilization's cultural relics rather than its natural treasures.The park also offers plenty of hiking, skiing, snowshoeing and moutain-biking options. Visitors can camp out or stay in luxury at the lodge.
reviewed
-
E
Ouray County Historical Museum
In a town so well endowed with history, a visit to the local museum is rewarding. Three floors of exhibits feature the local mining history, a bizarre-looking retro-futurist dentist's surgery, old tools and furniture, and a spooky collection of china dolls. The building was once a hospital. It's also the venue for meetings and events for the local historical society.
reviewed
-
F
Long House
On the Wetherill Mesa side of the canyon is Long House. It's a strenuous place to visit and can only be done as part of a ranger-led guided tour (organized from the visitor center). Access involves climbing three ladders – two at 15ft and one at 4ft – and a 0.75-mile hike, and there's an aggregate 130ft elevation to descend and ascend.
reviewed
-
G
Step House
Step House was initially occupied by Modified Basketmaker peoples residing in pithouses, and later became the site of a Classic Pueblo-period masonry complex with rooms and kivas. The 0.75-mile trail to Step House involves a 100ft descent and ascent.
reviewed
-
H
Chapin Mesa Museum
A good first stop, with detailed dioramas and exhibits pertaining to the park. When park headquarters are closed on weekends, staff at the museum provide information.
reviewed
-
Mesa Verde
reviewed
Advertisement
-
Wetherill Mesa
This is the second-largest concentration. Visitors may enter stabilized surface sites and two cliff dwellings, including the Long House, open from late May through August. South from Park Headquarters, the 6-mile Mesa Top Road connects excavated mesa-top sites, accessible cliff dwellings and vantage points to view inaccessible dwellings from the mesa rim.
reviewed
-
Chapin Mesa
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 House, the most accessible of sites, with a paved half-mile round-trip path.
If you want to see Cliff Palace or Balcony House, the only way is through an hour-long ranger-led tour booked in advance at the visitor center ($3). These tours are extremely popular; go early in the morning or a day in advance to book. Balcony House requires climbing a 32ft and 60ft ladder – those with medical problems should skip it.
reviewed