Twilight in Cliff Palace

See Cliff Palace as you have never seen it before!  

Through a special arrangement with the National Park Service, the Mesa Verde Institute will present extended Cliff Palace twilight tours in 2012 - dates coming soon. These ranger-led 90-minute tours begin at 7:00 p.m. and are limited to 20 participants to provide an intimate, leisurely encounter with Mesa Verde's largest cliff dwelling. This tour's dramatic sunset lighting appeals to amateur and professional photographers as well as those seeking a deeper connection with this extraordinary archeological treasure.

Knowledgeable Rangers* portraying an historical character* from Mesa Verde’s past will  guide visitors through Cliff Palace as the sun begins to set below the mesa top. This is a unique opportunity to learn about North America’s largest cliff dwelling through the eyes of the people who found, stabilized, and preserved it in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
 

Tickets are $10 per participant and are sold only in person at the Far View Visitor Center. The MVMA discount does not apply to this program. 

For comparison purposes, daytime Cliff Palace tours are $3 per person for a 60-minute program with up to 60 participants.

2012 schedule of characters and dates coming soon.

The 2011 schedule of characters:

Sunday
Willa Cather Returns to Mesa Verde - Ranger Paula Wolfe
Pulitzer Prize winner & acclaimed American author Willa Cather returns to Mesa Verde this year (1933) to take a select group of people through Cliff Palace. She will share her experiences of Mesa Verde in 1915 and explain why the Cliff Dwellers are important to all of us. 

Monday
Lucy Peabody: The “Mother of Mesa Verde” - Ranger Beth Wheeler
Return to the year 1910 and tour Cliff Palace with Lucy Peabody, the “Mother of Mesa Verde.”  Listen while she tells of the trials and tribulations, the heartbreaks and triumphs that went into saving Mesa Verde from total destruction.

Tuesday
Jean Pinkley teaches Mesa Verde Archaeology - Ranger Marie Clark
Experience what it was like to be a new interpretive Ranger in 1966 at Mesa Verde. The Chief Park Archaeologist shares her knowledge of the ancient people, structures, and artifacts that they left behind. 

Wednesday
Stories from a CCC Boy - Ranger Scott Kortemeyer
Go on a journey back in time with a Civilian Conservation Corps boy and re-live his experiences.

Thursday
A Night with Nordenskiöld - Ranger Josh Pelham
Join an early scientist Gustav Nordenskiöld as he shares his findings at Cliff Palace.

Friday
Twilight with Jesse Nusbaum - Ranger Kevin Lloyd
Spend some time with “Mr. Mesa Verde,” Jesse Logan Nusbaum, the Park’s first scientifically trained superintendent.

Saturday
Arabella Templeton: an early visitor - Ranger Adrianne Foster
Come hear about the experiences of early visitors (1890s); how they learned about the cliff dwellings; and the various means of travel necessary to visit Cliff Palace, and early theories about the cliffs.

*Subject to change due to Ranger availability.