Park Point Overlook

Author's Comments

At 8,572 feet, Park Point is the roof of Mesa Verde, and on a clear evening you can stand at the lookout tower and turn a slow circle through four states. Shiprock to the southwest, the volcanic neck of it rising out of the desert like a ruin from another world. Sleeping Ute lying flat against the horizon. The La Platas to the east still holding snow into June, and somewhere far to the west the La Sals catching the last warm light over Utah. The thing about a 360-degree view is that it asks more of you than a single overlook does. There is no obvious composition. You have to choose. I usually arrive an hour before sunset in late September, when the air is at its clearest and the haze of summer fires has settled, and I work the western edge first. Shiprock at golden hour is the photograph most people come for, and it deserves the attention - that silhouette against the layered desert, the depth going on for what looks like a hundred miles because it nearly is. Then I turn east. The La Platas at last light go a particular shade of blue that I have not found anywhere else, and the mesa drops away below you in long shadowed steps. A practical word. The summit is exposed and the afternoon storms in July and August are not theoretical. I have watched lightning walk across the mesa from this point, and it is beautiful from a distance and a serious problem up close. Plan for early or plan for after. The walk from the parking area is short, almost embarrassingly so, which means the view costs you almost nothing and gives you almost everything.

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