Knife Edge Trail

I camped at Morefield Campground in Mesa Verde National Park on Friday and went on this hike Friday afternoon.


"This fairly level trail follows the park's historic entrance road and leads to breathtaking views of the Montezuma Valley.  Difficult to maintain and unsafe for vehicles the Knife Edge Road was later converted to a hiking trail."

click on photos to enlarge and see more detail

2 miles round trip, with a 60' elevation gain. This is an amazing hike, easy to do, and the views are fantastic, up in the clouds, at the edge of the cliff.

You walk out and back on the same trail, I stopped for a few minutes to sit on a rock and take it all in.  It would be a great place to take a lunch and spend an hour or so just sitting and looking at the views. I plan on going on this hike again.

There were many rock slides in this area, you can see rocks of every size and shape on the trail and hillside. Seeing this area in its natural state, I can't imagine that anyone ever drove over this terrain. I'm sure it was just a dirt road, nothing like the roads we now drive on into the park.

view from the trail

When I left the campground on Saturday morning, I drove to Chapin Mesa in MVNP and went on a few more short hikes. I will create separate posts for these because I took a lot of pictures.