Getting High on history - This trip out west was to check off some bucket list items after my retirement. This tour to Mesa Verde was amazing. Denise picked us up at our Hotel in Durango and the journey into the past began immediately.She was such a wealth of knowledge about the ancient Puebloan people, their culture, lifestyles, and the architectural style of their building. She drove us almost to the clouds and lead us on paths to the remnants of their homes and temples on the mesa tops. She lead us to the edge and hooked us up with a Ranger guided tour into the heart of a magnificently preserved village clinging to the face of a protected overhang. My mind still reels at the thought of how these people not only lived here but how they actually built all of these multi level buildings. Denise also has vast knowledge of the local geography and how these mountains and valleys were formed. She is a very gifted speaker and teacher and we had a wonderful time checking off this bucket list item.

Getting high on History - This trip out west was to check off some bucket list items after my retirement. This tour to Mesa Verde was amazing. Denise picked us up at our Hotel in Durango and the journey into the past began immediately.She was such a wealth of knowledge about the ancient Puebloan people, their culture, lifestyles, and the architectural style of their building. She drove us almost to the clouds and lead us on paths to the remnants of their homes and temples on the mesa tops. She lead us to the edge and hooked us up with a Ranger guided tour into the heart of a magnificently preserved village clinging to the face of a protected overhang. My mind still reels at the thought of how these people not only lived here but how they actually built all of these multi level buildings. Denise also has vast knowledge of the local geography and how these mountains and valleys were formed. She is a very gifted speaker and teacher and we had a wonderful time checking off this bucket list item.

Our Paleontologist guide... - Our Paleontologist guide Denise was wonderful. Her expertise provided us with the history and life style of the Puebloans, the geological formations, vegetations of the Mesa Verde area, and the amazing cliff dwellings. She was not only professional, but also courteous, patiently answering all our questions. She is also a safe driver. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and would not hesitate to recommend this tour to friends and family

Fantastic Experience - Great experience with excellent customer service. We were contacted in advance of our tour so that we knew what to expect and to answer any questions. Our guide, Denise, was superb. She was highly informed about the history and geology of the area and had previously performed archeological field work. Her prior fieldwork experience added that something extra to the tour. I would highly recommend this tour.

Awe-inspiring Cliff Dwelling - Cliff Palace was an awe-inspiring site to visit and learn about. While the hike is definitely not for someone with height fears or anyone that cannot descend steep steps or climb a ladder, it was doable for someone in relatively good physical shape. My husband and I are thrilled that we got to visit this well-preserved abandoned cliff dwelling. We would love to be able to visit again some day.

Must do Culture Tour! - This tour was amazing! With the expansive knowledge of our guide whose name tag appropriately said, "Denise, Interpretive Archaeologist". We wanted to see these incredible dwellings, but more than that we were interested in the history and culture of the people. Denise was our personal guide for the day, her appreciation and respect for the indigenous people were so apparent. She could answer nearly any question we asked, and she shared stories from her days as a working archaeologist. We covered a lot of territory and saw such a wide range of ruins. The day was fascinating and the trip was one of a lifetime. Thank you Denise for sharing with us!!

Knowledgeable & accommodating guide…highly recommend the private tour - Mike Higgs our guide was very knowledgeable & accommodating. He adjusted our tour plan to meet or needs. Durango Adventure Tours surprised us by getting tickets to the cliff Palace that are very hard to get. It was a cool experience. We enjoyed our tour immensely & would recommend the private tour.

The guide was a game changer - We had a wonderful experience and Bruce was awesome. Definitely 5 stars. He may not have known it but my husband has early onset Alzheimer's and made the effort to engage him in conversation and made him so comfortable. He was a blessing! and so knowledgeable about the area.

Private archeologist lead tour for family with parents and young adults - Very good tour. Archeologist guide was personable,attentive to our needs/safety, and knowledgeable of Mesa Verde Park and it’s history. Lunch was good and water was provided.

Vey expensive tour disappointing - We booked a private tour for five people with Durango River Trippers for our second day of exploration at Mesa Verde. I personally spoke with the tour operator and carefully explained that we already had arrangements for the standard Mesa Verde tour on our first day included the most popular and well known sites including the famous Cliff Palace. He told me that he and his wife had done that tour and liked it He then said that he would have to do some work and put together a custom itinerary taking into account what we would have seen already. There was absolutely no ambiguity that we wanted different sites. The price for five of us came to over $1500. This seemed super expensive to me but I expected that they would design a really special trip for us, so I decided to splurge. When we met out guide on the second morning, he knew nothing about this. No special trip had been designed. He had come prepared to just do the standard tour and was completely surprised that we had already seen those things. He had to think of other things to do on the spur of the moment. One fairly impressive site that we hadn't seen yet was Long House cliff dwelling. It is next in importance to Cliff Palace. However, we couldn't see it, because tickets would have had to be purchased in advance, and the company hadn't done it.