Download free topo maps of Mesa Verde National Park. Use the adjoining 7.5 minute quadrangle legend to locate the Colorado maps you need.
Mesa Verde National Park is a unique opportunity to visit the ruins of prehistoric Native Americans known as the Ancestral Pueblo people. These remarkable ancients inhabited Mesa Verde well over 2,000 years ago where they remained for more than 700 years. During this period of time they became master builders, living in Cliff Dwellings. These amazing structures were built approximately one to two hundred years prior to the entire community abandoning them circa 1300. Archeologists and anthropologists theorize that the abandonment of such a complex community of homes was probably due to factors such as severe drought. Without sufficient water the agricultural basis of their existence would have been made impossible. No one knows for certain what happened to them, but it is thought that they moved to more habitable lands in Arizona and New Mexico where they may have had family among the Hopi, and numerous tribes in New Mexico such as the Zuni, Acoma and many other tribes. Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings are very well preserved, emanating a sense of beauty and wonder of an ancient people.
People who viewed this map were also interested in the following trails...