Mesa Verde National Park

"This one looked like a prehistoric condo complex," says Times reader "BoniPeluso," who shot this photo of Spruce Tree House in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. Let's hope homeowners' association fees were a little more reasonable in those days. Spruce Tree House is among 600 cliff dwellings in the national park, whose Spanish name translates as "green table" in English. Mesa Verde is home to more than 4,000 known archaeological sites, some once inhabited by ancestors of the Pueblo people from about AD 600 to 1300.

"This one looked like a prehistoric condo complex," says Times reader "BoniPeluso," who shot this photo of Spruce Tree House in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. Let's hope homeowners' association fees were a little more reasonable in those days. Spruce Tree House is among 600 cliff dwellings in the national park, whose Spanish name translates as "green table" in English. Mesa Verde is home to more than 4,000 known archaeological sites, some once inhabited by ancestors of the Pueblo people from about AD 600 to 1300.

Mesa Verde National Park, one of many Western parks and wilderness areas affected by wildfires this season, was scheduled to reopen this weekend, 15 days after lightning sparked a fire that burned more than 23,000 acres in and near the park. In recent weeks, wildfires have raged through the West, including California's Sequoia National Forest, at an unusually high rate. The situation changes daily.

Visit Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park, one of the nation's richest archeological preserves, and spend $49 for a room on Thursday nights. The deal: The special rate, which hasn't been offered at the park since the 1970s, is available at the Far View Lodge on Thursdays through the end of September.

Visit Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park, one of the nation's richest archeological preserves, and spend $49 for a room on Thursday nights. The deal: The special rate, which hasn't been offered at the park since the 1970s, is available at the Far View Lodge on Thursdays through the end of September.

Authorities closed Mesa Verde National Park and ordered 1,000 day campers and visitors to leave Thursday after a wildfire raced through tinder-dry brush, growing from 50 acres to 500 acres in about three hours. No injuries were reported and the park's Pueblo Indian ruins were not damaged, said fire management officer Mark Lauer. One structure, believed to be a residence, was threatened.

Firefighters battling a 2,415-acre blaze in one of the nation's archeological treasures took the offensive Wednesday as they began digging containment lines. They got help from five helicopters, at least two air tankers and 30 engines. Crews were accompanied by archeologists to avoid unnecessarily damaging the sites that make Mesa Verde National Park a major tourist draw. The park remained closed. The fire, ignited by lightning, was spreading northeast.

MESA VERDE National Park, a collection of cliff dwellings that are part of one of the largest archeological preserves in the U.S., is marking its centennial with a yearlong celebration that includes photography shows, Native American dance festivals and the temporary opening of three sites long closed to the public at this treasure in southwestern Colorado. A stop between...: Durango and any of the other parks of the Four Corners region.

A wind shift and thinner vegetation helped slow a wildfire Tuesday that has carved an eerie landscape of burnt tree trunks and blackened ground across one-third of the nation's largest archeological preserve. The Mesa Verde National Park fire stalled at an area damaged by blazes in 1972 and 1996, where shrubs were shorter and spaced farther apart, said Tim Oliverious, a National Park Service fire management officer.

Fire crews called in reinforcements to battle a 3,500-acre wildfire that doubled in size Friday, spreading quickly across tinder-dry mesas and canyons and forcing the evacuation of 1,000 tourists from Mesa Verde National Park. About 350 firefighters, aided by slurry bombers, were fighting flames in rugged, steep terrain on the eastern boundary of the park, about 260 miles southwest of Denver. Wind-whipped flames sent a gray curtain of smoke into the sky Friday. "Oh, my!

MESA VERDE National Park, a collection of cliff dwellings that are part of one of the largest archeological preserves in the U.S., is marking its centennial with a yearlong celebration that includes photography shows, Native American dance festivals and the temporary opening of three sites long closed to the public at this treasure in southwestern Colorado. A stop between...: Durango and any of the other parks of the Four Corners region.

Firefighters battling a 2,415-acre blaze in one of the nation's archeological treasures took the offensive Wednesday as they began digging containment lines. They got help from five helicopters, at least two air tankers and 30 engines. Crews were accompanied by archeologists to avoid unnecessarily damaging the sites that make Mesa Verde National Park a major tourist draw. The park remained closed. The fire, ignited by lightning, was spreading northeast.

Mesa Verde National Park, one of many Western parks and wilderness areas affected by wildfires this season, was scheduled to reopen this weekend, 15 days after lightning sparked a fire that burned more than 23,000 acres in and near the park. In recent weeks, wildfires have raged through the West, including California's Sequoia National Forest, at an unusually high rate. The situation changes daily.

A wind shift and thinner vegetation helped slow a wildfire Tuesday that has carved an eerie landscape of burnt tree trunks and blackened ground across one-third of the nation's largest archeological preserve. The Mesa Verde National Park fire stalled at an area damaged by blazes in 1972 and 1996, where shrubs were shorter and spaced farther apart, said Tim Oliverious, a National Park Service fire management officer.

Fire crews called in reinforcements to battle a 3,500-acre wildfire that doubled in size Friday, spreading quickly across tinder-dry mesas and canyons and forcing the evacuation of 1,000 tourists from Mesa Verde National Park. About 350 firefighters, aided by slurry bombers, were fighting flames in rugged, steep terrain on the eastern boundary of the park, about 260 miles southwest of Denver. Wind-whipped flames sent a gray curtain of smoke into the sky Friday. "Oh, my!

Authorities closed Mesa Verde National Park and ordered 1,000 day campers and visitors to leave Thursday after a wildfire raced through tinder-dry brush, growing from 50 acres to 500 acres in about three hours. No injuries were reported and the park's Pueblo Indian ruins were not damaged, said fire management officer Mark Lauer. One structure, believed to be a residence, was threatened.

High above Chaco Wash, hidden among the rabbit brush and prairie grass, ochre rocks the size of small trucks tease astronomers and archeologists with petroglyphs and clues to ancient mysteries. The rocks on Chacra Mesa and the massive cliffs miles away across the canyon to the northeast may hold further evidence that the Chacoans used astronomy to guide their farming and religious ceremonies.

The silver-haired Englishman, looking fit in khaki shorts and hiking boots, squinted into the noonday sun, a glare so fierce that it camouflaged the ancient cliff dwellings across the canyon in Mesa Verde National Park. His mind was not on the Anasazi, who built these remarkable cities nine centuries ago in what is now southwestern Colorado. His mind was on crime in the West. "The police blocked the roadway to the Grand Canyon just as our bus approached," he was saying.

High above Chaco Wash, hidden among the rabbit brush and prairie grass, ochre rocks the size of small trucks tease astronomers and archeologists with petroglyphs and clues to ancient mysteries. The rocks on Chacra Mesa and the massive cliffs miles away across the canyon to the northeast may hold further evidence that the Chacoans used astronomy to guide their farming and religious ceremonies.

The silver-haired Englishman, looking fit in khaki shorts and hiking boots, squinted into the noonday sun, a glare so fierce that it camouflaged the ancient cliff dwellings across the canyon in Mesa Verde National Park. His mind was not on the Anasazi, who built these remarkable cities nine centuries ago in what is now southwestern Colorado. His mind was on crime in the West. "The police blocked the roadway to the Grand Canyon just as our bus approached," he was saying.