Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

To: fieldmarshaldj

Is the north road closed ?

It was a dirt / high clearance / jeep road last time we were there.


23 posted on 02/03/2009 8:58:49 PM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies ]


To: george76

There is a north access road, but it now leads into the east end of the park. The one we took at the time led into the west end (State Route 57), and if you look at the atlas, that road has apparently since been closed (actually, one atlas shows it is closed, another says it still exists, and yet a 3rd one says “closed to traffic”). We took a regular car on that washboard road (which at the time, the atlases stated was OK to do), but I think it actually did some damage to the car, we ended up having to get a new car just 6 months later. IIRC, it took about 2 hours each way just to drive the 26 or so miles back and forth.

Of course, the reason all the roads in are unpaved is to discourage a lot of tourist traffic. The Park Service only wants people that absolutely wish to see those spectacular ruins and not just folks coming in on a lark, especially in their Battle Cruiser Winnebagos. It’s a pain, but I can understand.

The following day we drove up to Hovenweep (now under the “Canyon of the Ancients”), and the maps showed the route in on the Utah side as unpaved, but we were pleasantly surprised to find the road into the one segment was paved (apparently the atlases still show the road as unpaved, probably requested by the Park Service again, so as to discourage people, as with Chaco). Drove over from Hovenweep to nearby Mesa Verde and spent two days on the mesa top. All great sites.


31 posted on 02/04/2009 6:03:45 AM PST by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps !"~~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson