Step House Trail

The Step House Trail is a short 45 minute mostly paved loop near the tram parking area on Wetherill Mesa on the western side of Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado.

The Wetherill Mesa area is only open during the summer months. The tram provides transportation to the other trails and sites on Wetherill Mesa, but most can be easily reached by hikers on smooth easy trails.

The Step House site is unique because ruins from different periods are side by side under the overhang of the sandstone alcove.
On the left as you arrive at the site are four Pithouse from the era of 450 to 750 AD. The pithouse was a step toward permanent habitation from the nomadic hunting and gathering.

The pithouse later developed into the kiva that was central to ceremonial activity and is included in most of the pueblo villages.
This reconstruction is helpful for understanding how these structures were built. Mostly we see these kivas or pithouse without roofs or with the roof complete.

Climbing the short ladder allows a close view into the pueblo structure that dates from the 1200s. Just above the ladder there are some faded petroglyphs.

In the same area is a "21" the number given to the site by Swedish investigator Gustav Nordenskiold in 1891, shortly after the discovery of the cliff dweller sites by the local ranchers the Wetherill family.
The name "Step House" is for the set of primitive stone steps along the cliff that lead to the rim. For many of the cliff dweller sites in Mesa Verde it is often difficult to see how they got in and out of the precarious locations.
The environmental setting of Step House is at the head of a canyon with Pinon Pine and Juniper forest on the rim. The area was burned over by the Pony forest fire of 2000.