Seasonal Openings

Rising temperatures, receding snowpack, and strong winds that relocate much of New Mexico's soil into Southwest Colorado can only mean one thing: spring has arrived! The Far View Visitor Center and Mesa Verde Museum Association (MVMA) bookstore will open for the season on Sunday, April 11, 2010. Visitor Center hours will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Also beginning April 11 will be tours of Cliff Palace and Balcony House, two of the park's most-visited cliff dwellings. Balcony House is opening early this year to provide visitors with an alternative to Spruce Tree House, which will be temporarily closed from April 11 through April 30. (See separate article.)

Cliff Palace tours are offered every hour from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Balcony House tours are offered each day at 9:30 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. Tickets are required for all Cliff Palace and Balcony House tours. Tickets are $3 per person, for all ages, and can only be purchased at the Far View Visitor Center.

The Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum and MVMA Museum Store will be open extended hours starting April 11, from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

We eagerly await the reopening of ARAMARK's Far View Lodge and famed Metate Room on April 22. We can already almost taste Chef Brian Puett's delicious southwestern creations!

Free Park Entrance While Much-Needed Spruce Tree House Trail Repaving is Underway

Due to a major rehabilitation of the Spruce Tree House trail, the Spruce Tree House cliff dwelling will be temporarily closed to the public from April 11 to April 30, 2010. The rehabilitation of this popular trail is one of the projects funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The trail has not had extensive maintenance in over 20 years, and will be upgraded to better meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements. The project includes documentation of historic stone construction by the Civilian Conservation Corps, repairing and rebuilding retaining walls, correcting trail pitch and slope, and resurfacing the trail tread.

Although much of this work has been accomplished with little to no impact to the visiting public, the park will repave the entire length of the trail beginning April 11, 2010. The repaving was carefully timed to take place when temperature and weather conditions permitted, but before the busy summer season. Due to the narrow width of the Spruce Tree House trail, visitors will not be able to access the site safely while the trail is being repaved. From April 11 to April 30, Spruce Tree House and trail will be closed.

During the Spruce Tree House trail closure, park entrance fees will be waived. Rangers will present 30-minute Spruce Tree House Overlook Talks at 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Ranger-guided tours of Balcony House will be available early this year to provide an alternative cliff dwelling tour for visitors. Beginning April 11, tours will be offered each day at 9:30 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. Tickets are required for the Balcony House tours. Tickets are $3 per person, for all ages, and can only be purchased at the Far View Visitor Center.

For more information and a schedule of the alternative talks and tours, please visit the park website at www.nps.gov/meve/

Volunteer Training Scheduled

Mesa Verde National Park's Community Volunteer Program will hold a New Volunteer training session in the park on Saturday, April 24. Volunteers partner with park staff in a variety of activities including visitor services, education, trail monitoring and maintenance, data collection and archiving, landscaping, and special events. For more information about this program or to sign up for the training, visit www.mesaverdevolunteers.org, e-mail coordinators Cheryl and Chuck Carson at cccarson@aol.com, or call the Carsons at 970-259-2699.

The activities that volunteers undertake are limited only by their numbers and imaginations. You'll determine what you'll do and how much you'll be involved; some volunteers work as little as once per year, while others are in the park twice a week all summer. We invite you to give back to your park by volunteering in Mesa Verde this year!

Special Hikes Coming This Summer

The Mesa Verde Institute, an educational program of the Mesa Verde Museum Association, will be offering several exciting new park activities this summer: a two-hour hike to Mug House, a day-long hike to Spring House, and a day-long "Wetherill Mesa Experience" hike! These ranger-led tours are offered in partnership with the National Park Service.

The strenuous 2-hour, 3-mile round-trip Mug House hike is along an unpaved, uneven trail that descends 100 feet and includes one ladder, steep drop-offs, switchbacks, and scrambling over boulders. Named for three mugs tied together and found hanging inside one of its rooms, Mug House was built about AD 1150 and likely supported 80 to 100 people. This hiking tour will be offered daily from May 30 through September 6. Tickets will be $15 per person, and the tour will be limited to 14 people. Tickets will be available up to two days prior to the hike date and must be purchased at the Far View Visitor Center bookstore.

Spring House is not the only cliff dwelling you will see during this day-long hike. Participants will have stunning views of Buzzard House, Teakettle House, and Daniel's House, as well as other archeological sites perched in the sandstone recesses of Navajo and Wickiup Canyons. This very strenuous, 8-hour, 6-mile hike along an unpaved, uneven trail has an elevation change of 1,000 feet and includes steep drop-offs and switchbacks. This hiking tour will be offered daily from May 30 through September 30. Tickets will be $35 per person (includes lunch), and the tour will be limited to 14 people. Registration will only be available online beginning April 26 at www.mesaverdeinstitute.org.

The 5-mile, 5-hour easy to moderate Wetherill Mesa Experience hike introduces the broad community landscape story of the Ancestral Pueblo people from earliest occupation in pithouses to the cliff dwellings. Binoculars are highly recommended for cross-canyon views of multiple cliff dwellings. This hiking tour will be offered daily from May 30 through September 30. Tickets will be $35 per person (includes lunch), and the tour will be limited to 14 people. Registration will only be available online beginning April 26 at www.mesaverdeinstitute.org.

In addition to these new offerings, the Mesa Verde Institute will once again be presenting our popular Cliff Palace Twilight Tours with historical figures from the park's past, as well as our fall multi-day photography workshop with Northern Arizona University professor Gene Balzer. Information about these programs will be posted soon at www.mesaverdeinstitute.org.

Entrance to All 392 National Parks is Free During National Park Week

To make it easier to experience America's Great Outdoors, the National Park Service (NPS) is waiving entrance fees, so visitors can enjoy all 392 national parks for free April 17-25, 2010. Explore the stunning beauty and amazing stories found in your national parks and celebrate National Park Week! Many parks will also offer additional family-friendly activities and special offers on tours, lodging, food, and souvenirs. At all MVMA stores, a free gift pack will be yours with any purchase over $20. The gift pack consists of a set of artifact postcards, a set of "The Mesa Verde Story" diorama cards, and a copy of the award-winning book, Mesa Verde: The Living Park. This offer is valid from April 17 through 25, 2010, for in-person purchases at our Chapin Mesa Museum, Far View Visitor Center, and Colorado Welcome Center (Cortez) stores only. A listing of other parks and promotions is available at www.nps.gov/npweek/

Normally 146 of the 392 national parks, monuments, and recreation areas charge entrance fees ranging from $3 to $25. The other 246 do no charge for admission. The fee free waiver for National Park Week does not include other fees collected in advance or by contractors-such as fees charged for camping, reservations, and use of concessions.

"National parks preserve our heritage, promote recreational experiences, and provide places of quiet refuge," said NPS Director Jon Jarvis. "Most people live within a short drive of a national park so I encourage everyone to spend some time enjoying America's Great Outdoors during National Park Week."

Free Four Corners Lecture Series Resumes

"People and landscape - thousands of years of land use in the Four Corners" is the theme for this year's free Four Corners Lecture Series. This month will see Willow Powers discuss the history of trading posts (April 16, 7 p.m., Cortez Cultural Center); on April 22, Florence Lister and Gwinn Vivian will offer personal reminiscences of Old Chaco (7 p.m. at Far View Lodge in Mesa Verde National Park).

The Four Corners Lecture Series is sponsored by the Fort Lewis College Department of Anthropology, Bureau of Land Management, Anasazi Heritage Center, Cortez Cultural Center, Crow Canyon Archeological Center, Mesa Verde National Park, and MVMA's Mesa Verde Institute.

View the full schedule of all 29 offerings here. From talks to traditional Hopi dances to a pottery firing, you can learn more about the lands we love by attending free programs this summer!