What You Will Do
Your professional guide will customize the trip to your group offering choices from the park's ranger-guided tours (Seasonally available 2nd week of May thru 3rd week of October) as well as adding historical, cultural and archaeological insights on interpretive hikes and walking tours. Park entrance fees, ranger-guided tour tickets and a deli-style lunch are included.
Discover Mesa Verde National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978 and considered the largest archaeological preserve and first cultural National Park in the country. Mesa Verde, Spanish for green table, offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years. Today the park protects nearly 5,000 known archaeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Itinerary
Meeting Point
Meet at the Mountain Waters Rafting office
303 W College Dr
Durango, CO 81301
Free secure parking in Downtown Durango!
1
Mountain Waters Rafting & Adventure Company
30 minutes
Park for free, check-in, get ready, head off to Mesa Verde National Park for the day
2
Mesa Verde National Park
7 hours
You will learn and see as much as you can in a single day with a guide passionate about the park and the
culture. This tour has stops at several of the parks archaeological sites, several of the
cliff dwellings, the historic museum, spectacular and a
30 minute ranger guided tour into the crown jewel of the park; Cliff Palace. Cliff Palace is a world-
famous masterpiece of architecture and design and the largest cliff dwelling in the park. Considered
moderately strenuous, this tour will descend uneven stone steps and climb four 10ft ladders, with an
elevation change of 100 feet. Total walking distance is 1/4 mile. Although tickets will be provided
for everyone, not everyone has to go on the tour and this can be decided together with your guide at
the park. Included: Park fees, Cliff Palace
tickets, transportation to and from Durango and within the park, plenty of water and a delicious
sandwich lunch.
Cannot accommodate children under the age of 4 or people will severe mobility issues
3
Mesa Verde Visitor and Research Center
30 minutes
Explore the Visitor and Research Center with your guide
4
Cliff Palace
1 hour
When available, the park has limited the seasonal schedule and the capacity of the ranger guided tour into the Cliff Palace Ruin.
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