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of the season), the Cliff Palace tour involves a 100-vertical-foot descent to the dwelling and a climb to the same height to exit. In between, you'll have to scale four 10-foot-high ladders. The effort is well worth it. With 151 rooms and 23 kivas, Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in the Southwest and one of the largest in the world. Especially striking is the original red-and-white wall painting that remains inside a four-story tower.

Merely reaching the 45-room Balcony House, the most fortresslike of the Mesa Verde dwellings, will make you appreciate the agility of the ancestral Puebloans, who used hand- and footholds and log ladders to scale the cliffs. During the tour, you'll descend 90 vertical feet of stairs, climb 32- and 20-foot-long ladders, and slip through a narrow 12-foot-long crawl space. When you do reach the dwelling, you'll be standing on a level stone floor 700 feet above the floor of Soda Canyon. The Puebloans dumped tons of fill inside 15-foot-high stone retaining walls below this floor, creating a level surface on which to build. Tours run every half-hour between 9am and 5:30pm in summer, less frequently at the beginning and end of the season.

Some people remember the Long House tour for its half-mile walk, the flight of 52 stairs, and the two 15-foot-high ladders they have to negotiate. Others will recall the dwelling itself, with its 21 kivas and 150 rooms stretching across a long alcove in Rock Canyon. At its center is a large plaza where the community gathered and danced. Granaries are tucked like mud dauber nests into two smaller alcoves (one above the other) to the rear of the large one. Tours meet at the minitram depot on Wetherill Mesa and run regularly from 10am to 5pm.

Cliff Palace tours run from mid-April to early November, a few weeks longer than the season for Balcony House. Wetherill Mesa, site of Long House, is open only from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. To replace these attractions during the off season, the park offers free ranger-guided tours of Spruce Tree House, a self-guided area in summer. Call the park to find out the exact dates of the tour season.

In addition to the ranger-guided tours, park concessionaire Aramark offers 3-hour guided tours twice daily from spring through early fall, leaving from Morefield Campground and Far View Lodge. Transportation is provided. Rates are $39 for adults, $28 for youths 5 to 17, free for kids under 5. Get details at the campground or lodge or from Aramark, P.O. Box 277, Mancos, CO 81328 (☎ 800/449-2288 or 970/533-1944; www.visitmesaverde.com).

Day Hikes

Although none of the trails to the Mesa Verde sites is strenuous, the 7,000-foot elevation can make the treks tiring for visitors who aren't used to the altitude.

SHORTER TRAILS ON CHAPIN MESA

Spruce Tree House

.25 mile one-way. Easy. Access: Chapin Mesa Museum.

Open from 8:30am to 6:30pm daily during summer, this paved trail descends from behind the Chapin Mesa Museum to Spruce Tree House, a dwelling with 130 rooms and 8 kivas. Because Spruce Tree House sits in an 89-foot-deep alcove, this is the best-preserved dwelling at Mesa Verde. Rangers are here to answer questions during high season. Off season, they guide tours here. The trail is accessible to the mobility impaired, although they may require assistance on some of its grades.

ON WETHERILL MESA

Badger House Community Trail

.75 mile RT. Easy. Access: Wetherill Mesa parking area.

This trail, accessible to travelers with disabilities, visits mesa-top sites on Wetherill Mesa. Usually uncrowded, the paved trail is accessible from one of three minitram stops or by making a longer walk from the parking area. The 12-stop self-guided tour details 600 years of history.

Nordenskiold's Site no. 16 Trail

2 miles RT. Easy. Access: Wetherill Mesa parking area.

Begin this quiet hike by taking the minitram to its trailhead or walking from the parking area. Mostly flat, the dirt trail descends over rocks for the last few yards before it reaches an overlook