CORTEZ – Mesa Verde National Park will remain closed through the weekend due in part to rockfalls that happened inside the park during the partial government shutdown.
The Cortez Journal talked with public information officer Cristy Brown, who said “several large rockfalls occurred on the main park road” during the shutdown, “causing damage to the road and guardrail.”
The park’s Facebook page said the rockfalls happened between milemarkers 2 and 3 on the main park road. The park said it needs to repair the roads and remove snow from the park before reopening.
With the enactment of the continuing resolution, we are planning to reopen the park on Monday, February 4, 2019 at 8:00…
Posted by Mesa Verde National Park on Sunday, January 27, 2019
Parts of the park remained open to visitors during the shutdown, but roads were closed on Jan. 5 due to snowstorms in the area.
President Trump signed a continuing resolution that ended the government shutdown last Friday. Other national parks in Colorado opened up shortly afterward, with Rocky Mountain National Park posting that operations were mostly back to normal last Sunday. The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve reopened last Saturday, and operations at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park resumed on Monday.
Mesa Verde’s visitor and research center will also stay closed while repairs take place. The park is set to reopen on Feb. 4 at 8:30 a.m.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story)
