Mesa Verde's Far View Sites

We planned our trip to Mesa Verde National Park around our scheduled Cliff Palace tour, but one of the Mesa Verde attractions we were not aware of was the Far View Sites Complex.

The Mesa Verde National Park Self-Guided Tours page provides a brief description of the Far View Sites Complex, including this sentence: "This mesa top community includes Far View House, four other villages, and a dry reservoir."

There is also a dedicated Far View Sites web page that includes this summary sentence of one of the most positive attributes of the Far View Sites: "Today, several excavated and stabilized sites are linked by a trail system within a short walking distance."

The Self-Guided Tours page states that "the level, unpaved 3/4-mile trail (1.2 km) is open 8:00 am to sunset."

The Far View Sites web page adds more description of the structures that are visible at Far View Sites: "Far View House, Pipe Shrine House, Coyote Village, Far View Reservoir, Megalithic House, and Far View Tower."

Coyote Village was one of our favorites.

A good resource for a quick overview (with photographs) is the Far View Community Sites page.

The Far View Sites seemed less visited than the better known sites Cliff Palace and Long House, which is a good thing because the parking area is much smaller than at those sites. The parking area is essentially along a circular road next to the Far View Sites.

We are glad that we squeezed a visit in to the Far View Sites during our single very full day in Mesa Verde National Park.

The featured sites are near each other and make it is easy and quick to see them all. With far fewer people present, there's no need to wait for an opportunity to get a good position for taking photographs.

Long House: Mesa Verde National Park

After reserving our tickets for a Cliff Palace tour, we wanted to select one other tour to participate in during our full day in Mesa Verde National Park (by staying in Far View Lodge the night before and after, it really was a full day). After Cliff Palace, we didn't really have a strong preference for "the other" tour we'd do, but ultimately decided upon the Long House tour and are really happy we chose that one!

We arrived at the Wetherill Mesa Kiosk earlier than anticipated, so we took that opportunity to sit on the benches in the shaded pavilion while still allowing ourselves over 20 minutes to walk down to the Long House trailhead.

There is a large parking lot at Wetherill Mesa Kiosk, which makes sense because multiple trails are accessible from this point.

The "Reservation Confirmation" sent to us for the Long House Tour clearly stated that participants needed to walk from the Wetherill Mesa Kiosk to the Long House Trailhead, but it quickly became obvious that several and individuals and groups did not read their email message as they either missed the tour or came running and arrived breathlessly as we were starting to walk (after brief overview). This is the wording from the email confirmation (I did not add the bold):

The tour begins and ends at the Long House trailhead which is a 20-minute, 0.75-mile (1.2 km) hike from the Wetherill Mesa Kiosk.** Plan accordingly to reach the trailhead in time for your scheduled tour.

Allow 1-1/2 to 2 hours for the entire Long House experience (the total time for the tour and the walk between the kiosk and the Long House trailhead).

From the trailhead, the trail starts out flat or with very minor descent until you reach the canyon.

There some stairs here to descend toward bottom and go deeper into the canyon.

The exit route after the tour is in the opposite direction and so these same stairs are later used to ascend.

The view of the canyon on the way down keeps the walk interesting.

The next photograph shows the fist good peek at Long House with people in it from the ealier tour group.

This lizard was looking in the direction of Long House.

One of the best things about the Long House tour is that participants are allowed to go walk up next and behind the structures.

There are two ladders to climb from the bottom to the top.

At Long House, we were able to see the walls in close detail.

It's nice to see the Long House structures amidst sweeping views.

Unlike in the Cliff Palace tour, participants are allowed to walk behind and among (but of course not to touch or walk or sit on) the structures at Long House.

I especially loved the perspective of the Long House structures in the foreground and the nature and canyon behind them.

Here is another perspective on where we started touring Long House and the double ladders.

These are some different perspectives on the highly photogenic Long House.

We really enjoyed the tour of Long House.

The structures at Long House are worth seeing and learning about on their own and the natural beauty just adds to the overall effect.