Written by Kyle
A couple weeks ago we had planned to go to visit Mesa Verde National Park in Southwest Colorado. At that time we were hoping the government shutdown would be over, but at the time I am writing this it is still dragging on. We were not sure what to expect but as we already made arrangements for the trip and booked a hotel, we hit the road as planned.
The drive from Creede, CO to the park was beautiful weather and the Pagosa Springs side of Wolf Creek Pass was still showing fall colors. We even spotted a few of our bighorn neighbors on the drive out.
We grabbed some lunch in Cortez (Delicious, but insane portion sizes Loungin’ Lizard!) and headed to the park entrance. We were surprised to find there was a park ranger manning the gate, they were not collecting entrance fees or checking park passes, and he informed us most of the roads in the park were closed except the main route. All the museums, visitor centers, and guided tours of the cliff dwellings were shut down, however you could still visit the Spruce Tree House.
We headed into the park and enjoyed the beautiful, traffic free drive, and made our way to the Spruce Tree House. We arrived and were happy to find the restrooms were still open and clean, and there was a park ranger present. Mesa Verde is full of petroglyphs and archeological sites, so it was good to see there was someone watching over them. We have definitely seen horror stories of people causing damage or running free at other national parks during the shutdown.
The view of Spruce Tree House was pretty amazing, especially knowing this is one of the smaller existing cliff dwellings in the park. We headed out of the park, glad to have seen what we could, and we definitely want to visit again when the full park is open and guided tours to the dwellings are available. We thanked the lone ranger for looking over the park and headed home.
Ramble Around 