{"id":16281,"date":"2025-10-03T00:56:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T06:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/traffic-sparse-at-mesa-verde-national-park-after-partial-closure\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:56:15","slug":"traffic-sparse-at-mesa-verde-national-park-after-partial-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/traffic-sparse-at-mesa-verde-national-park-after-partial-closure\/","title":{"rendered":"Traffic sparse at Mesa Verde National Park after partial closure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Mesa Verde National Park Montezuma County Overlook is accessible Thursday while most other park areas and features are closed during the federal government shutdown. Visitors Thursday found a less-crowded park that still showcased Mesa Verde\u2019s scenery but required some changes to their plans. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span>Anna Watson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The rush of visitors who lined up at Mesa Verde National Park on Wednesday morning thinned by Thursday, a day after the park\u2019s partial closure<\/a> and the federal government shutdown.<\/p>\n

By midmorning Thursday, traffic at the entrance gate trickled in. Fewer vehicles waited in line as a pair of park attendants greeted arriving cars, RVs and motorcycles.<\/p>\n

The main road to the Mesa Verde Museum remains free to enter and accessible, along with all roadside overlooks, park restrooms and some hiking near the Morefield Campground \u2013 which is fully operating. As of Thursday, there are no closure signs posted at the front gate.<\/p>\n

The government shutdown has effectively shuttered most of the park \u2013 including all the major loops, tours and programming, most hiking routes and the Mesa Verde Museum and Visitors Center.<\/p>\n

No passes can be sold or no vouchers accepted while the park is shuttered, a front gate attendant said. Guided tours and most trails remain closed, but visitors who reach the museum\u2019s parking lot can glimpse the Spruce Tree at the viewing area.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s government shutdown put the National Park Service on a contingency plan<\/a>, keeping many parks partially open with only essential staff and limited services while furloughing thousands of employees.<\/p>\n

Morefield Campground, lodge remain open<\/div>\n

While most of Mesa Verde\u2019s services are shut down, Morefield Campground and all its facilities are open and operating normally.<\/p>\n

The campground \u2013 managed by the private concessionaire Aramark<\/a> \u2013 continues to run its general store, the Knife Edge Caf\u00e9 that serves breakfast, the laundromat and fuel stop on the property. Aramark\u2019s Fair View Lodge, about 15 miles up the road from the main gate, is open and booking overnight guests.<\/p>\n

\"Knife
Knife Edge Cafe at the Mesa Verde\u2019s Morefield Campground serves breakfast Thursday. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span>Anna Watson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Campers
Campers walk toward the office and general store Thursday at Mesa Verde\u2019s Morefield Campground. The privately owned campsite and camp store, providing food, basic supplies, a laundromat, cafe and more, operated as normal during the government shutdown. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span>Anna Watson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cRight now, we are running business as usual,\u201d said Kelly O\u2019Hara, who works at the campground\u2019s front desk.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Hara said the campsite experienced some cancellations but also saw other guests deciding to extend their stays.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome because they like the campground, some because they are choosing to use the campground as their base as they visit other sites in the area,\u201d O\u2019Hara said.<\/p>\n

A few hiking trails accessible by the campground are also open to the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they (guests) want to change their reservation or length of stay, they can let the front desk know at check in,\u201d O\u2019Hara said.<\/p>\n

The National Park Service has not announced new changes since its contingency plan when into effect. The Journal <\/em>has requested updated comment from Mesa Verde\u2019s information officer, Dalton Dorrell, and Superintendent Kayci Cook.<\/p>\n

During the 2018-19 government shutdown, Mesa Verde initially stayed open without services<\/a> but ultimately closed after snowstorms made the unplowed roads unsafe for driving. This fall\u2019s closure comes during a still-busy tourism season in the Four Corners region.<\/p>\n

\u2018Such a beautiful drive\u2019: Tourists savor scenery<\/div>\n

Visitors Thursday described a quieter park, one that still offered a glimpse of Mesa Verde\u2019s scenery but left them adjusting their plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to hike and see the structures,\u201d said Elizabeth Smith of Arkansas, who was passing through the park on her way home.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the hiking trails are closed, and the structures are closed except for what you can see from the museum. But it\u2019s beautiful here and very quiet. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s always this quiet, but maybe because of the shutdown there\u2019s a certain serenity to it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Mesa
Mesa Verde National Park\u2019s restroom facilities are open to park visitors Thursday despite other areas and services closing during the government shutdown this week. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span>Anna Watson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Smith said she plans to do laundry at the campground before heading to one of the few accessible trails.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of sad that you don\u2019t know when you\u2019ll get to come back this way, if ever,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cheryl Polland said she and her husband, visiting from Minneapolis, were trying to make the best of their limited experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew about the shutdown, but it went right over our heads, so we came anyway,\u201d Polland said. \u201cThe ranger at the gate said we could still drive up to the museum and stop at the overlooks, so we\u2019re grateful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polland, who is visiting Mesa Verde for the first time, said they planned to continue enjoying the drive to the museum before heading back to Pagosa Springs for lunch and lodging.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a beautiful drive, and at least we can see part of the park,\u201d Polland said.<\/p>\n

\"Mesa
Mesa Verde\u2019s main road remains open and free of charge Thursday despite closures. Thousands of National Park Service employees were furloughed after the government shut down in the middle of the night Tuesday. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span>Anna Watson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"An
An pull-off overlooking Mancos on Thursday is accessible to drivers on the main road. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span>Anna Watson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal shutdown limits access, but scenic drive still wows at Mesa Verde<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,173,29,1982],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-mesa-verde-national-park","tag-newsletter","tag-parks"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16281"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20114,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16281\/revisions\/20114"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16281"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}