Cliff Palace begins to glow in Mesa Verde National Park, illuminated by luminarias/Lee Dalton

I noticed it in a Traveler article around Thanksgiving. A short mention of two nights in December when Cliff Palace and Spruce Tree House in Mesa Verde National Park would be lighted by luminarias.

Hey, why not?

And so it was that within a day or so I’d laid my plans, reserved a room at a motel in Cortez, Colorado, and began packing to go try my hand at low light photography. When I reached the mesa around noon on December 9, it was nearly empty. The park was cold with cloudy skies and traces of its last snow storm. Morefield Campground was closed, as were the lodge and other facilities at Far View. Tours through the park's famous ruins were very limited because a large crack in the overhanging rock above Spruce Tree has caused it to be closed lest 30,000 tons of rock might decide to land on a few visitors. The parking lot at Chapin Mesa was bare. Quite a sight.

I hunted down Jill Blumenthal. I’d known her years ago in Zion National Park when she had been a brand-new Student Conservation Aid. She’s now Mesa Verde's education and volunteer Coordinator. She briefed me on what was happening.

Lighting of Spruce Tree House has been an annual tradition since about 1980, but luminaria in Cliff Palace had been done only twice before, in 2005 and 2006, to bookend the park’s 100th anniversary. This time the illumination of Cliff Palace is to highlight the National Park Service Centennial in 2016. The first night was a preview dress rehearsal of lighting Cliff Palace, and a time reserved for photographers to set up tripods in the limited viewing area.

There were maybe 75 photographers competing for tripod space at Cliff Palace Overlook on Wednesday. At dusk, a crew began lighting Coleman lanterns fueled by those small green propane tanks, and by the time it was full dark, Cliff Palace was aglow. Is it possible for something to be quietly spectacular? This was.

Thursday was Open House when both ruins would glow. The road was to be closed at Far View around three. A fleet of buses would shuttle visitors from parking at Far View to Chapin Mesa and then out to Cliff Palace Overlook. It was all to end at nine, about the time candles burned down.

Open House is a real community operation. Besides the Park Service and a herd of volunteers, there’s money from Mesa Verde Museum Association; chili and hot drinks from Aramark Leisure – the park concessionaire; City Market in Cortez sends cookies; and a fleet of buses from several tour companies and a couple of school districts all contributing what they can to make it a success.

Evening descends on Cliff Palace/Lee Dalton

I spent Thursday prowling through the Anasazi Cultural Center in Dolores. No visit to Mesa Verde is really complete until you’ve taken a look around this Bureau of Land Management-operated museum. Then, following advice from Jill and a couple of others, I headed back to Chapin Mesa before the road was to be closed. I found an out-of-the-way parking space and then wandered in awe while watching an army of volunteers, rangers, and maintenance crew planting 4,500 sand-anchored paper bags with candles all around the roads, parking areas, and some of the buildings.

Ranger Blumenthal/Lee Dalton

Jill pointed out the crack above Spruce Tree and explained a little of the dilemma facing the Park Service in trying to find a way to stabilize it. She had just come up the trail from Spruce Tree and we watched while some of her compadres finished setting up Coleman lanterns down there.

As dusk settled in around 5 p.m., people who had spent the day preparing luminarias spread out to light candles. Soon Chapin Mesa was warmed by candleglow. Buses were hauling people up from Far View. Musicians began performing in the museum auditorium and back porch of the chief ranger’s office. Down in the canyon, Spruce Tree House lit up.

Is that what it might have looked like hundreds of years ago when families living in those rooms lit fires to cook and stay warm on a winter’s night? Maybe.

Crowds grew. Cameras clicked. Candles flickered. Interpreters interpreted, and before long hundreds of visitors were walking quietly along the peacefully illuminated trails. There was almost a feeling of reverence. It was quiet. Contemplative. Even children stood still, just looking. Voices were hushed.

Over at the coffee shop, some of Aramark’s crew was handing out free coffee, hot chocolate, sugar cookies, and delicious chili. (I made a big mistake and asked for beef chili. It was yumcious, but people began telling me how great the white chicken chili was, so I went back for a sample. Oh, my goodness!)

By 6:30 p.m., crowds were growing thicker. I was cold and dog tired from two long days, so I fired up my little truck and headed down hill. A warm bed was waiting at Super 8. A couple of ranger patrol vehicles with flashing lights blocked traffic at Far View. A line of headlights spread downhill as far as I could see. I watched the odometer as I drove and clocked exactly one mile of traffic standing still. From there until just above the tunnel I passed a steady stream of inbound vehicles. When I reached the park entrance station a little after seven, I swung around and asked the ranger on duty if he was keeping count of cars. He held a little clicker counter up and said, “You’re number 876.”

I slept very well that night. Next year I just might go back again. Maybe I’ll see you there. Let’s remember to get there early to be first in line. And don’t forget the white chicken chili!

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(With special thanks to Jill Blumenthal for help with facts and saving me from a couple of embarrassing mistakes.)

Luminarias lined the walkways in Mesa Verde National Park/Lee Dalton