Fall Color on the Prater Ridge Trail

The Morefield campground area at Mesa Verde has three hiking trails including the Prater Ridge Trail. The Prater Ridge Trail takes off from the south side of the campground area and climbs 675 feet up to the top of the ridge, and winds around along the edge. The other campground trails are the Knife Edge Trail and the Lookout Point Trail.

It is 1.2 miles to the start of the two hiking loops on top of Prater Ridge. The north loop is 4 miles and the south loop is 2.4 miles. There is a shortcut trail that forms the two loops into a figure 8. From the north loop there are good views of several ranges of the nearby San Juan Mountains and the Montezuma and Mancos valleys below. The south loop views are of the canyons along the main park road traveling toward the south part of the park. It is one of the few trails in the park that doesn't go past any of the 700 year old Ancestral Pueblo Ruins for which the park is famous.

In 2000, it was a bad year for forest fires at Mesa Verde. The Bircher Fire scorched the north side of the park near the Morefield campground. Mesa Verde means "green table" and for a while in 2000, it was a "black table". The Gambel Oaks are recovering, bushy new shoots sprouting up around the charred remains of the forest fire victims. These oaks don't grow very tall, they grow more like a shrub here. In the fall the oaks put on a good display of color. The Utah Serviceberry shrub also adds some yellow to the scene.

The trail mostly follows along the sandstone cliffs. I scanned the cliffs to see if there were any small ruins sites but didn’t see any. It is possible that the people that lived here came to this area for materials as there were some Douglas Firs in the shaded north facing pockets and the acorns from the Oaks were probably a food source.

Most of the charred tree trunks from the forest fires are still standing. Most of what is visible now is the colorful oaks. There are only a few pockets where the evergreen trees survived. When I’ve hiked the full 7.4 mile loop it has taken me 3:30 hours. Hiking just the shorter 3.7 mile south loop route took about 2:15 hours.

Inaccessible House Trail

Inaccessible House is located below the east rim of Navajo Canyon in Ute Mountain Tribal Park in southwest Colorado. It is rarely visited, but was included on a special tour along with the nearby Casa Colorado ruins site. The trail head is in the area south of the Mesa Top Tour at the south end of Mesa Verde National Park.The trail runs south along the Navajo Canyon east rim to an unnamed side canyon where the Casa Colorado ruins sits at the side canyon head. A rough trail descends into the side canyon and turns back toward the main canyon and runs under the rim. The Inaccessible House site is above the trail at a somewhat awkward viewing angle, and seems to be very well preserved.

At the canyon junction a short distance before the site there are some historic inscriptions from some of the early visitors to the area. This hike was guided by one of the experts in the history of Mesa Verde and there was a good discussion of who the inscribers were and what their roles were in the early history of the area.

The trail continues past the Inaccessible House site to another alcove that has only rubble piles remaining but also has a small reddish pictograph panel. The wrecked nature of this alcove site was attributed to rough use during the pot hunter era of the early 1900s.

Beyond the second alcove there is a small granary site. The trail along here was reasonably good despite not much maintenance over the years. The Ute Mountain Tribal Park has mostly left these sites in the state that they were found. Pottery shards are visible and remain in place as all hikes here are guided. I noticed a second granary site on the return hike near the inscription rock, so there are three intact ruins in this area plus the pictograph alcove.

Inaccessible House doesn’t appear to be a place that anyone would have resided in, maybe it is a special use site. It is hard even to see it. There isn’t any room to step back and get a good view. Our tour group visited this site and those with enough energy left continued on to nearby but harder to get to Casa Colorado. The total tour took about 6:30 hours with about half the time spent at each of the two sites. The distance covered was about 3 miles but the route was somewhat difficult and required some scrambling up and down in the rocky environment.

Casa Colorado Trail

Casa Colorado is a rarely visited Ancestral Pueblo cliff dweller ruins site in Ute Mountain Tribal Park in southwest Colorado. Ute Mountain Tribal Park offers guided full day and half day tours and a few special tours such as this hike to Casa Colorado and Inaccessible House.

The trail head area for Casa Colorado is accessed at the south end of Mesa Verde National Park in the vicinity of the Mesa Top Pit House to Pueblo self guided tour. This is the same beginning area for the Pool Canyon Trail, another of the rarely offered Ute Mountain tours. After a short drive across the park boundary the hike begins along the east rim of Navajo Canyon. The popular Spruce Tree Canyon area is a side canyon to the north of this section of larger Navajo Canyon. The hike along the rim is about 0.5 miles to an unnamed side canyon with Casa Colorado at the head of this short side canyon.

There were at least 3 ruins sites visible across the Navajo Canyon the west side. One of them we thought was named Casa Blanca and there also appears to be a tower visible. You would need binoculars to see these distant sites very well. At the canyon bottom there appears to be an old road.

There is an old 1930s era trail just below the rim heading east to toward the ruins site but it is unmaintained and wasn’t obvious on the outward leg. Most of our group made their way slowly through the Pinon Pine and Juniper forest but mostly not on any trail. The route was somewhat difficult and there was some scrambling through and over the jumbled rocks. The distance was only about 0.3 miles and the ruins site was visible most of the way.

The trail approaches from the left side. It was possible, though not easy, to approach the Casa Colorado closely from the right side by descending to the canyon bottom and climbing up the other side. It looked like the right side would have been the main entrance.

A few of our active group chose to climb to the canyon rim from this right side of the site, going out over the top of the ruin, but most returned back the way we came. The return trip was a little easier, and was mostly on the old trail below the rim. The total hike to Casa Colorado and nearby Inaccessible House was about 6:30 hours with about half the time spent at each site. The total distance was only about 3 miles but the going wasn’t easy and there was a lot of lingering at each site.

Spruce Canyon Below the Rim

There are five large cliff dweller ruins sites at Mesa Verde in southwest Colorado that can be entered, and only two that do not require a ranger led tour. Spruce Tree House is the more popular of the two self guiding sites. To experience more of the canyon environment of the Ancestral Pueblos, the interpretive Petroglyph Trail travels a 2.4 mile loop just below the rim of Spruce Canyon. There are 34 stops along the trail, emphasizing the plants of the canyon and mesa top and their possible uses to the people and wildlife that live here. The main trees are Pinon Pines, Utah Junipers, and Gambel Oaks with Douglas Firs in the cool shady parts of the canyon. The mix of shrubs can vary with subtle factors such as facing north or south and the soils.

The trail leads to at least three alcoves as it winds its way south just under the canyon rim. One of the alcoves has some small ruins structures. The under the rim route has many steps that have been engineered or carved to make traveling easier, but it is still slow going and rocky, with many ups and downs. The tricky footing, the shade of the tall trees and the wide views encourage stopping and viewing the natural features.

There are several places where the trail squeezes through narrow cracks in the sandstone cliffs. Across the canyon there are at least two alcoves visible with binoculars that have ruins sites. The views to these sites are a little better on the return loop on the mesa top. Mesa Verde has 600 alcove ruins sites. The handful of large spectacular sites get the most attention, but there are many unpublicized smaller ones to see with careful observation.

The highlight of the trail is the petroglyph panel at the far end of the loop. This is a medium sized panel, and is the best known in Mesa Verde. This one is a little unusual in that there are comments in the trail guide offering some interpretation. This panel does not seem to be associated with a large ruins site and it not at an obvious canyon junction. Just past the petroglyph panel the trail climbs back to the rim and returns back toward the Chapin Mesa Museum area.

As the trail turns back north on the mesa top there is a vague unpublicized trail that continues south for about 0.25 miles to a rocky overlook where there is a large alcove ruins site. The map I have calls this site Little Long House. It doesn’t appear on the official park map and it isn’t visible from any of the official overlooks. It looks like this site has relatively easy access from the canyon floor, a gradual slope leading up. The Square Tower House is a nearby neighbor, just down the canyon and visible from the Mesa Top Loop Tour.

It looks like this area was once on an official trail as there are steps carved into the rock leading to view points. This segment may have been dropped from the official trail for safety reasons. There aren’t any safety railings here and the cliff drops off steeply. When viewing this site, cars can be seen stopping at the Navajo Canyon overlook of the Mesa Top Tour. This site is below and to the right of the overlook, but not visible from there. My hike on the Petroglyph Trail took 2:30 hours on a warm July afternoon and I carried 1 liter of water. Binoculars are handy on this hike for the views across Spruce Canyon.

Long House Trail

The Long House Trail is on the Wetherill Mesa side of Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado. This section of the park is only open during the summer months and has the second largest concentration of Ancestral Pueblo ruins in the park. Long House is the second largest cliff alcove site at Mesa Verde.
Long House can only be visited on a $3, 1.5 hour ranger guided tour. After arriving at the Wetherill Mesa parking area, visitors take a tram to the trail head. There is one stop on the paved trail leading down into the large alcove site. In addition to a discussion of the Pinon Pine and Utah Juniper forest environment a small water conserving check dam along a small drainage is pointed out.

Long House is one of the sites that early investigator Gustavf Nordenskiold visited in 1891 and he labeled this site No. 15, the carving still visible in the sandstone as the tour enters the site. Also visible on the way down are hand and toe holds that residents must have used to climb to the canyon rim.

The Long House tour includes visiting the back of the site after climbing two ladders. In the cool and shady back of the alcove there was a discussion of the advantages and reasons for building and living in the alcoves after centuries of living on the mesa tops. My favorite reason is the shelter from the hot summers and cold winters that the south facing alcoves provided.

There is a seep spring providing water at the back of the cave and small hollowed out basins where water could collect are visible. It is thought that construction started at the back of the site and expanded towards the front. There are also examples of grain grinding stones on display in the back.

There are 21 kivas at Long House, one still having part of the roof intact. There is a ladder to climb up and view inside. Standing in the elevated area at the back, the kivas seem to cascade down to the lower plaza area below. The kivas are thought to have been useful for winter protection and also served ceremonial purposes. There are a few small rock art pictographs along the back wall.

Among the 150 rooms at Long House there are some upper level storage areas. Looking up at these storage areas it is hard to see how anyone was able to get up there.

The last stop is in the large plaza in the lower front of the site. The ranger had the group close our eyes imagine the scene of a major dance ceremony taking place; drums playing, fires burning, viewers watching from the canyon rim, an exciting evening.

The 12 miles drive to Wetherill Mesa from the Far View Visitor Center has several pull over view points along the twisty road. At the three that are closest to the end of the road, small ruins sites are visible across the canyons. These smaller sites tend to get lost among the very large sites for which Mesa Verde is famous. One of the three is a tower that seems to sit isolated on the opposite rim, much like the Cedar Tree Tower in the Chapin Mesa area.

Knife Edge Trail in Spring

The Knife Edge Trail at Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado is one of two or three interpretive trails in the park that emphasize the plants found in the area, and their use by the Ancestral Pueblo people that lived here. The Trail Head is in the Morefield campground area near the part entrance and the hike is a 2.0 mile round trip. There are three hiking trails starting in the Morefield campground area, but none of them pass by any of the famous ruins sites.

There are 32 stops on the self guided trail. In spring, not all of the plants mentioned in the trail guide are in flower, but some are. The first stops on the trail are Gambel Oak and Pinon Pine, two of the most common trees, and also sources of acorns and pine nuts that were edible. Also mentioned are Black Sagebrush and Big Sagebrush, two common shrubs. Big Sagebrush is an indicator of good soil for farming.

In the vicinity of the marker that discussed the blue Spurred Lupine there was a blue flower in bloom, but I think in late May is was Larkspur.

There are some wildflowers along the trail that aren't mentioned in the trail guide. I think this is Clematis in the buttercup family. Clematis is one of the plants identified on the paved trail leading down to Spruce Tree House on Chapin Mesa.

Another flower that was conspicuous in May but not mentioned in the trail guide was this showy white flower that I think is Cliff Fendler Bush. The views from the Knife Edge Trail are from the North Rim of Mesa Verde toward the Montezuma Valley.

Snowberry is a low growing bush with pale pink bell shaped flowers. The Trail Guide says that there was no known Ancestral Pueblo use for Snowberry. Another berry on the trail is Utah Serviceberry, the most common bush in Mesa Verde and probably a source of food. There is also an Elderberry Bush on the trail, the only one that has been found in the park.

The Trail Guide mentions that this bush was so striking that the Knife Edge road was detoured slightly to preserve it. The Knife Edge Road was built in 1914 and served as an entrance to the park until the tunnel between Prater and Morefield canyons was built in 1957.

The Wild Rose has bright pink flowers and red oval shaped berries called "hips." These hips are rich in vitamin C and some have been found in Ancestral Pueblo remains. These roses grow in moist side canyons in dense patches.

A few small Douglas Firs are found along the trail and there are large ones high above against the north facing cliffs. Douglas Firs are also found in the moist canyons such as near Spruce Tree House. The Trail Guide mentions that the most colorful flower along the trail is the bright red Indian Paint Brush, but in late may none were in bloom yet.

Inside Balcony House

The one hour tours at Balcony House at Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado begin in late April, about three weeks after they begin at the famous Cliff Palace. Balcony House is a medium sized 27 room cliff dwelling and is very popular as the tour visit involves the adventure of climbing several ladders and crawling through a short tunnel.Another difference about the Balcony House tour is that the visitor goes deep inside the sandstone alcove, rather than just along the front. The tour has five stops. There is an introduction at the beginning, a pause and view before descending a metal stair case and another pause before climbing the 32 foot double ladder. The fourth stop is in the plaza area where the well preserved balcony is visible.

After the discussion in the plaza, the route to the other side of the site involves a short climb and maneuvering around behind the structures to the back of the alcove, something that the other large alcove sites don’t allow.

The back of the alcove has a seep spring that provided water for the site. The Balcony House is a little unusual in that it faces mostly east rather than south, and doesn’t catch much sun in the cold winter months. The back of the alcove is thought to have been a refuse disposal area.

The fifth and last stop is in the area where the two site Kivas are side by side. These Kivas seem to be particularly deep and perhaps the extra insulation made up for the lack of solar heating here. Near the exit, there is a display of grinding stones that would have been used to grind corn.

Some of the ranger discussion talked of how these people suffered from decayed teeth. Sand from the corn grinding would end up in their food and wear their teeth down. The other observation was the prevalence of arthritis, from the kneeling and probable carrying of materials in a difficult location. There has been little observation of signs of violence.

The highlight exit is to crawl on hands and knees through the 12 foot tunnel. This was the entrance and exit that the people who lived here used. The entrance the tour uses was engineered by the Park Service.

Looking down on the tunnel from above, it appears that it was originally just a narrow crack in the sandstone. It looks like a ceiling was added to the crack and the gap filled with masonry. Some effort was made to make the site secure from unwanted visitors and this is one of the mysteries of the cliff dwellings.

Some sites show signs that security was a concern, but others do not. After visiting Balcony House, the nearby Soda Canyon Trail offers a 1.2 mile hike through the Pinon Pine and Utah Juniper forest to three canyon overlooks. From the first two overlooks, there are somewhat distant views of Balcony House.