Mesa Verde Wilderness
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

Of the more than 52,000 acres that make up Mesa Verde National Park, only about 8,500 are designated as the Mesa Verde Wilderness. And these 8,500 acres are broken into three sections on the steep east and north boundaries of the Park. These Wilderness Areas were designated specifically to preserve and protect some significant Anasazi sites that have yet to be analyzed by the archaeologists. Unlike most wilderness areas, the Mesa Verde Wilderness is not open to the public.