{"id":16315,"date":"2025-10-01T11:36:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T17:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/update-federal-shutdown-closes-mesa-verde-national-park-facilities-tourists-caught-off-guard\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:36:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:36:35","slug":"update-federal-shutdown-closes-mesa-verde-national-park-facilities-tourists-caught-off-guard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/update-federal-shutdown-closes-mesa-verde-national-park-facilities-tourists-caught-off-guard\/","title":{"rendered":"Update: Federal shutdown closes Mesa Verde National Park facilities; tourists caught off-guard"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Most
Most of Mesa Verde National Park closes Wednesday after the government shutdown. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Travelers arriving at Mesa Verde on Wednesday morning learned that the federal shutdown had closed most of the park, leaving only the main road, overnight lodgings and a few trails accessible.<\/p>\n

As of Thursday, the park\u2019s open facilities include restrooms, overlooks along the main drive, the privately operated Morefield Campground and Far View Lodge, and the Spruce Tree viewing area behind the museum\u2019s parking lot.<\/p>\n

Vans, RVs and cars lined up at the park gate as travelers waited to hear from the attendant about the closure and what access remained. Some visitors said they were caught off-guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were surprised to find out that everything was closed at the top,\u201d said David Hurley, a out-of-state visitor who was camping at the park with his wife. \u201cOf course, we were bummed but nothing you can do about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The partial closure and shutdown came after Congress hit a standstill<\/a> on the federal budget.<\/p>\n

Loop roads, the Mesa Verde Museum and Visitor and Research Center have closed, a park attendant told The Journal.<\/em> The attendant, who requested anonymity, said he remained on duty as an essential worker, while others have been furloughed.<\/p>\n

Attendants were notifying travelers of the closure at the gate. A park attendant will continue staffing the entrance, though hours may vary depending on personnel availability.<\/p>\n

The Journal <\/em>reached out to park ranger and information officer Dalton Dorrell for comment but was unable to reach him.<\/p>\n

A voice message on the Mesa Verde National Park answering service announced that all ranger-led tours and programs have been canceled. It added that the voice message will be updated as the park\u2019s operating status changes.<\/p>\n

The main road, which runs about 20 miles through the park, remains open free of charge, the attendant said, and no passes could be sold or vouchers accepted while the park is under shutdown restrictions.<\/p>\n

Morefield Campground, operated by Aramark, remains open with its store, breakfast caf\u00e9, laundromat and fuel stop running as usual. Aramark\u2019s Far View Lodge, about 15 miles inside the park, also is open and booking guests.<\/p>\n

The only hiking trails accessible in the park are those that begin around the campground.<\/p>\n

Kelly O\u2019Hara, a campsite employee, said if guests want to change their reservation\u2019s length of stay, they should notify the front desk at check-in.<\/p>\n

The National Park Service released a contingency plan<\/a> ahead of the shutdown Tuesday evening. That plan said the agency would furlough about two-thirds of its employees and keep parks largely open.<\/p>\n

The plan says that \u201cparks may close grounds\/areas with sensitive natural, cultural, historic, or archaeological resources vulnerable to destruction, looting, or other damage that cannot be adequately protected by the excepted or exempted law enforcement staff that remain on duty.\u201d<\/p>\n

The closure is concurrent with a small drop in visitors to the park since last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cYear-to-date visitation at the park is down just under 4%,\u201d said Kayci Cook, Mesa Verde\u2019s superintendent, during a Sept. 22 meeting with the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners.<\/p>\n

Cook attributed the drop to a reduction in international tourists visiting the U.S.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Aztec Ruins National Monument, which lies on the western bank of the Animas River in Aztec, announced Wednesday that it was closing. (David Albright\/Tri-City Record)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Nearby federal lands also impacted by shutdown<\/div>\n

The Bureau of Land Management Tres Rios Field Office is awaiting instructions on how the government shutdown will impact them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still working through our orderly shutdown,\u201d said Derek Padilla, field manager of the office. \u201cWe\u2019re uncertain exactly what that is going look like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canyons of the Ancients National Monument is temporarily halting \u201call volunteer activities, events, and programs\u201d at the museum, according to an email from Jennifer Humphreys, visitor center manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cFederal employees who manage this program are in a non-duty, non-pay status and cannot provide services, including responding to emails or phone calls,\u201d the email read.<\/p>\n

In New Mexico, A Tri-City Record<\/em> reporter confirmed that Chaco Culture National Historical Park, Aztec Ruins National Monument were shutting down.<\/p>\n

Travelers alter plans<\/div>\n

Visiting from Seattle, David Hurley and his wife, Annie, who stayed overnight at Morefield Campground, said they had planned to take two guided tours Wednesday, only to discover the closure.<\/p>\n

Hurley said the shutdown carried more weight for them because of their age.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a big deal, because we\u2019ll never get back to experience this,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we have been here once before.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple, on a three-week tour of the region, said they decided to rearrange their schedule, shifting plans a day forward and seeking new places to camp.<\/p>\n

Another couple, David and Nancy Nidermier, retirees from Ohio on a cross-country trip, said they learned at the Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center that Mesa Verde would close.<\/p>\n

They said the closure hasn\u2019t disrupted them yet \u2013 they toured Mesa Verde last week \u2013 but they are concerned about their next destination in Moab, Utah, which Utah\u2019s Mighty 5 are currently open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we get to Utah and the parks are closed, we\u2019ll just do dispersed camping on BLM or forest land and see what happens,\u201d David Nidermier said, pointing to the couple\u2019s RV. \u201cWe\u2019re pretty much self-contained.\u201d<\/p>\n

What happened at Mesa Verde during the 2018-19 shutdown?<\/div>\n

During the last federal shutdown, which ran for 35 days from Dec. 22, 2018, to Jan. 25, 2019, Mesa Verde National Park was initially left open but without major services. The Journal<\/em> reported about the confusion<\/a> as early warning signs posted at the entrance gate and the economic toll to the tourism sector.<\/p>\n

Visitors entered \u201cat their own risk\u201d \u2013 with no staffed restrooms, no trash pickup and no road plowing during the wintertime. On the opening day of the shutdown, NPS signs told visitors to use \u201cextreme caution,\u201d according to previous Journal <\/em>reporting. After a snowstorm hit in December 2019, the park closed altogether because there weren\u2019t any paid plowing crews.<\/p>\n

The Interior Department later allowed parks to use entrance fees to pay for minimal cleaning, trash hauling and patrols, but Mesa Verde stayed largely inaccessible until the shutdown ended Jan. 25, 2019. The disruption, combined with that winter\u2019s heavy snow, helped drive an 8% drop<\/a> in the park\u2019s annual visitation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

roads, the Mesa Verde Museum and Visitor Center closed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16315","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=16315"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20133,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16315\/revisions\/20133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16315"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}