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

Nearby attractions

1. Mesa Verde National Park

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…

2. Chapin Mesa Museum

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…

3. Spruce Tree House

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…

4. Chapin Mesa

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…

5. Step House

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…

6. Wetherill Mesa

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. 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…

8. Cliff Palace

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 –…