About the Park
Take a step into the past and learn about the Ancestral Pueblo people who lived at Mesa Verde over 700 years ago. Enjoy cultural information on Mesa Verde cliff dwellings and mesa top sites. Today, the continued preservation of both cultural and natural resources is the focus of the park’s research and resource management staff.
Mesa Verde National Park contains nearly 8,500 acres of federally designated wilderness in Southwest Colorado and occupies just over 52,000 acres of the Colorado Plateau. The Park showcases thousands of archaeological sites, distinct wildlife, unique plant life and abundant habitats that support a large number of species. Visible geologic formations within the park date back to about 90 million years ago, and consist largely of sandstones and shales. Mesa Verde lies in the transition zone between scrublands and a forested mountainous environment, nestled in the Rocky Mountains.