Author's posts
Sep 21 2024
Mesa Verde National Park Cliff Dwellings: History, Tours & Visitor Guide
Mesa Verde National Park preserves one of the most extraordinary collections of ancestral Pueblo architecture in North America. Built into sandstone alcoves high above the canyon floors of southwestern Colorado, its cliff dwellings contain stone rooms, towers, plazas, storage chambers, and circular ceremonial spaces constructed by people whose communities flourished in the Mesa Verde region …
Sep 21 2024
Mesa Verde National Park’s Spruce Tree House
Spruce Tree House is one of the best-preserved and most impressive cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park. Built beneath a massive sandstone alcove on Chapin Mesa, the ancestral Pueblo village contains roughly 130 rooms and eight kivas, with sections rising several stories high. Archaeologists estimate that approximately 60 to 80 people may have lived …
Sep 21 2024
The Best Hikes in Mesa Verde National Park
Mesa Verde National Park is famous for Cliff Palace, Balcony House, and its extraordinary Ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings, but some of the best experiences in the park happen on foot. Nearly 30 miles of designated trails cross mesa tops, descend into shady canyons, follow historic roads, pass ancient farming features, and reach viewpoints overlooking both …
Sep 21 2024
Mesa Verde National Park’s Balcony House
Balcony House is one of the most memorable cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park. Tucked beneath a sandstone overhang high above Soda Canyon, this Ancestral Pueblo village contains 38 rooms, two kivas, remarkably preserved architectural features, and some of the most dramatic access of any site open to visitors in the park. Reaching Balcony …
Sep 21 2024
Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park
Cliff Palace is the largest known cliff dwelling in North America and the most famous archaeological site in Mesa Verde National Park. Built beneath an enormous sandstone alcove in southwestern Colorado, the village contains roughly 150 rooms, 23 kivas, towers, courtyards, storage spaces, and multi-story structures constructed by Ancestral Pueblo people more than seven centuries …
Sep 21 2024
The Wildlife of Mammoth Cave National Park
Mammoth Cave National Park is best known for the immense labyrinth hidden beneath the rolling hills of central Kentucky, but its wildlife extends far beyond bats hanging from cave ceilings. Above ground, forests, ponds, sinkholes, streams, and the Green and Nolin rivers support white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, coyotes, foxes, beavers, owls, salamanders, turtles, snakes, and …
Sep 21 2024
Mammoth Cave National Park History: Indigenous Exploration, Cave Guides & the Cave Wars
Mammoth Cave National Park is famous for containing the world’s longest known cave system, but the human story beneath the hills of central Kentucky is almost as remarkable as the cave itself. Thousands of years before modern tourists entered Mammoth Cave, Indigenous people explored its passages by the light of river-cane torches. During the early …
Sep 21 2024
Lassen Volcanic National Park Hot Springs & Hydrothermal Areas
Lassen Volcanic National Park is one of the best places in the United States to see an active volcanic landscape at work. Steam rises from cracks in the earth. Mud pots bubble and thump. Turquoise pools simmer beside yellow and orange mineral deposits. Acidic water transforms solid volcanic rock into soft clay, while fumaroles release …
Sep 21 2024
Bumpass Hell Trail & Visitor Guide
Bumpass Hell is one of the most memorable places in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Steam rises from vents in the earth, mud pots bubble and thump, and brilliantly colored pools sit among pale volcanic rock. The landscape feels almost otherworldly, yet everything happening here is a visible reminder that the volcanic system beneath Lassen is …
Sep 21 2024
Lassen Volcanic National Park Lakes
Volcanoes may be the headline attraction at Lassen Volcanic National Park, but water is an equally important part of the landscape. More than 200 lakes and ponds are scattered throughout the park, ranging from easily accessible roadside lakes to quiet backcountry waters hidden among forests and volcanic ridges. Many of Lassen’s lakes were shaped by …
