An unattended Land Cruiser that rolled off a cliff Thursday at Mesa Verde National Park was recovered on Friday.
No one was injured in the incident, which occurred about 4 p.m. at the Fire Temple Ruin overlook on the Mesa Top driving loop, said Chief Ranger Jesse Farias.
“When he got out to view the ruin, he failed to put the vehicle in park,” Farias said.
The 2001 Land Cruiser began to roll and would have just hit the vehicle in front of it, but a lip in the asphalt caused the steering wheel to turn enough that it went over the edge. It plummeted down a 60- to-80-foot cliff and rolled 150 feet down a canyon.
“Fortunately, no one was hurt. It was just property damage,” Farias said. “I’ve seen some pretty weird stuff in 30 years at parks, but never this.”
The vehicle’s owner, 41-year-old Greg Geiger, is vacationing from North Carolina.
Geiger said Friday he was glad the damage was only to his car.
“What was first going through my head was I might have done damage to a national treasure,” he said. “I’m glad that didn’t happen.”
Geiger said he was on a cross-country trip, and most of his possessions were in the car when it rolled off the cliff.
On Friday, Bo Dean’s Towing arrived to extract the totaled vehicle, which was upside down. Tow operators used a 50-ton wrecker with a large boom that is essentially a small crane.
“It is not a run-of-the-mill tow, and will be tricky,” Farias said.
Park spokeswoman Cristy Brown said the view point was closed during recovery of the vehicle.
The incident did not damage the ruin, officials said, and an archaeologist monitored the towing. A mitigation plan will be developed to handle any possible fuel leak.
Mesa Verde Ranger Operations Supervisor Steve Krisko said a similar crash occurred about 15 years ago, when an employee’s unoccupied car tumbled down a hill. Two or three years ago, a visitor intentionally drove a car off a cliff in the park, but was uninjured, he said.
“People get excited about seeing the ruins, but they need to take their time and be patient and safe,” Farias said.
jmimiaga@the-journal.com
The Journal reporter Jacob Klopfenstein contributed to this story.
