Part 5

Do not drive cars on, or walk, over the shrubbery.

The camp ground facilities at Mesa Verde have been greatly improved and expanded through the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Provisions for campers are obtainable at reasonable prices in any of the nearby towns. Groceries, gas, and oil can also be purchased at Spruce Tree Lodge.

HORSEBACK AND HIKING TRIPS

Visitors who view the Mesa Verde from the automobile roads gain but an inkling of the weird beauty and surprises that this area holds for the more adventurous. Horseback and hiking trips along the rim rocks and into the canyons lead to spectacular ruins not seen from any of the roads. Such great ruins as Spring House, Long House, Kodak House, Jug House, Mug House, and Step House, as well as all of the ruins in the more remote canyons, can be reached by trail only. Each turn of the trail reveals entrancing vistas of rugged canyons, sheer cliffs, great caves, hidden ruins, distant mountains, tree-covered mesas, and open glades.

In making these trips it is important that the hiker prepare himself with proper footwear, as the trails are very precipitous in places.

HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL SERVICE

There is an excellent hospital at park headquarters where medical and surgical service is provided to care for all emergency cases. Prices are regulated by the Secretary of the Interior.

ACCOMMODATIONS AND EXPENSES

At Spruce Tree Lodge, situated among the piñons and junipers overlooking Spruce, Spruce Tree, and Navajo Canyons, cottages and comfortable floored tents may be rented at prices ranging from $0.75 to $2 per day a person for accommodations only, and from $4.50 to $5.75 per day including meals. Meals, table d’hote and a la carte, at reasonable prices. Children: No charge under 3; half rates from 3 to 8. The official season for Spruce Tree Lodge is from June 15 to September 15.

The company also operates, for visitors who do not care to use their own cars or are without private transportation, automobile service to various ruins for $1 each, round trip. A special evening trip to Park Point to see the spectacular sunset from the highest point in the park is $1.50 per person.

OUT-OF-SEASON ACCOMMODATIONS

Before June 15 and after September 15, cabins may be rented from the caretaker of Spruce Tree Lodge at the regular rates. Meals, with breakfast 50 cents, and luncheon and dinner 75 cents, may be had at the Government dining hall. In nearby towns, less than an hour’s drive from park headquarters, accommodations are also obtainable.

PACK AND SADDLE ACCOMMODATIONS

Saddle horses, especially trained for mountain work, may be rented from the Mesa Verde Pack & Saddle Co. For short trips the rental is $1 for the first hour and 50 cents for each additional hour. For short 1-day trips for three persons or more the cost is $3.50 each; two persons $4 each; one person $6. Longer 1-day trips for experienced riders are available at $2 per person more than the rate for the shorter 1-day trips. All prices include guide service, and a slicker, canteen, and lunch bag are provided with each horse. Arrangements should be made the evening before the trip is taken.

PACK TRIPS

Nonscheduled pack trips to the more remote sections of the park may be arranged (2 days’ notice is required) at prices ranging from $9 a day each for parties of five or more to $15 a day for one person. This includes a guide-cook and furnishes each person with one saddle horse, one pack horse, bed, tent, canteen, slicker, and subsistence for the trip. Three days is the minimum time for which these trips can be arranged.

REFERENCES[3]

Chapin, F. H. The Land of the Cliff Dwellers.[4] W. B. Clarke & Co., Boston, Mass. 1892. 187 pages. Douglass, Dr. Andrew Ellicott. The Secret of the Southwest Solved by the Talkative Tree Rings, in National Geographic Magazine, December 1929.[4] Faris, John T. Roaming the Rockies. Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., New York. 1930. Illustrated. 333 pages. Mesa Verde on pp. 193-203. Fewkes, J. Walter. Antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park: Spruce Tree House.[4] (Bureau of American Ethnology Bull. 41, 1909. 57 pages, illustrated.) (Out of print.) —— Antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park: Cliff Palace.[4] (Bureau of American Ethnology Bull. 51, 1911. 82 pages, illustrated.) (Out of print.) —— Excavation and Repair of Sun Temple, Mesa Verde National Park.[4] (Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 1916. 32 pages, illustrated.) (Out of print.) —— A Prehistoric Mesa Verde Pueblo and Its People.[4] (Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 1917. 26 pages.) (Out of print.) —— Prehistoric Villages, Castles, and Towers of Southwestern Colorado.[4] (Bureau of American Ethnology Bull. 70. 1919. 79 pages text, 33 plates.) Gillmor, Frances, and Wetherill, Louisa Wade. Traders to the Navahos.[4] Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston and New York. 1934. Illustrated, 265 pages. Describes discovery of cliff dwellings by Wetherill brothers. Holmes, William H. Report on Ancient Ruins in Southwestern Colorado Examined During Summers of 1875 and 1876. (Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories (Hayden), Tenth Report, 1876, pp. 381-408, illustrated.) Ickes, Anna Wilmarth. Mesa Land.[4] Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston and New York, 1933. Illustrated. 228 pages. Southwest in general. Mesa Verde, pp. 100-101. Ingersoll, Ernest. Reprint, first article. Mancos River Ruins, New York Tribune. Nov. 3, 1874; in Indian Notes, vol. 5, no. 2, April 1928, pp. 183-206, Museum of American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York.[4] Jackson, W. H. The Pioneer Photographer.[4] World Book Co., 1929. Jeffers, Le Roy. The Call of the Mountains. 282 pages, illustrated. Dodd, Mead & Co., 1922. Mesa Verde on pp. 96-111. Kane, J. F. Picturesque America. 1935. 256 pp., illustrated. Published by Frederick Gumbrecht, Brooklyn, N. Y. Mesa Verde on pp. 121-124. Kidder, Alfred Vincent. An introduction to the Study of Southwestern Archaeology.[4] 300 pages, illustrated. Yale University Press, 1924. Mesa Verde on pp. 58-68. —— Beautiful America—Our National Parks. 1924. 160 pages pictorial views. Beautiful America Publishing Corporation, New York City. Mesa Verde views pp. 58-68. Mills, Enos A. Your National Parks. 1917. 532 pages, illustrated. Mesa Verde National Park on pp. 161-174; 488-490. Morris, Ann Axtell. Digging in the Southwest.[4] Doubleday Doran Co., 1933. Readable account of the trade secrets of a southwestern archeologist. Nordenskiöld, G. The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde.[4] 1893. 171 pages, illustrated. Nusbaum, Deric. Deric in Mesa Verde.[4] 1926. Illustrated. G. P. Putnam’s Sons. Knickerbocker Press. Rolfe, Mary A. Our National Parks.[4] Book One. A supplementary reader on the national parks for the fifth and sixth grade students. Benj. H. Sanborn & Co. 1927. Illustrated. Mesa Verde on pp. 221-234. Yard, Robert Sterling. The Top of the Continent. 1917. 244 pages, illustrated. Mesa Verde National Park on pp. 44-62. —— The Book of the National Parks. 1926. 444 pages, illustrated. Mesa Verde National Park on pp. 284-304.

NATIONAL PARK PUBLICATIONS

Glimpses of Our National Parks. An illustrated booklet of 92 pages containing descriptions of the principal national parks. Address the Director, National Park Service, Washington, D. C. Free.

Recreational Map. Shows both Federal and State reservations with recreational opportunities throughout the United States. Brief descriptions of principal ones. Free.

Fauna of the National Parks. Series No. 1. By G. M. Wright, J. S. Dixon, and B. H. Thompson. Survey of wildlife conditions in the national parks. 157 pages, illustrated. Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. Price 20 cents.

Fauna of the National Parks. Series No. 2. By G. M. Wright and B. H. Thompson. Wildlife management in the national parks. 142 pages, illustrated. Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. 20 cents.

Map of Mesa Verde National Park; 43 by 28 inches; scale, one-half mile to the inch. United States Geological Survey, Washington, D. C. Price 20 cents.

Panoramic View of Mesa Verde National Park; 22½ by 19 inches; scale, three-fourths mile to the inch. Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. Price, 25 cents.

National Parks Portfolio. By Robert Sterling Yard. Cloth bound and illustrated with more than 300 beautiful photographs of the national parks. Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. Price $1.50.

Booklets about the national parks listed below may be obtained free of charge by writing The National Park Service, Washington, D. C.

Acadia, Maine Carlsbad Caverns, N. Mex. Crater Lake, Oreg. General Grant, Calif. Glacier, Mont. Grand Canyon, Ariz. Grand Teton, Wyo. Great Smoky Mountains, N. C.-Tenn. Hawaii, Hawaii Hot Springs, Ark. Lassen Volcanic, Calif. Mount McKinley, Alaska Mount Rainier, Wash. Platt, Okla. Rocky Mountain, Colo. Sequoia, Calif. Shenandoah National Park, Va. Wind Cave, S. Dak. Yellowstone, Wyo.-Mont.-Idaho Yosemite, Calif. Zion and Bryce Canyon, Utah

Footnotes

[1]Approximate dating. Exact dating by the methods of tree-ring chronology are yet to be accomplished.

[2]The Secret of the Southwest Solved by Talkative Tree Rings, by A. E. Douglass: National Geographic Magazine, December 1929.

[3]For complete bibliography apply at the park museum or write to the Superintendent, Mesa Verde National Park.

[4]Copies in Mesa Verde Museum Library.

Transcriber’s Notes

--Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

--In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.