On this self guiding tour most visitors move their vehicles to each of the ten stops, but during winter conditions this is a peaceful 3 mile round trip hike on a firm surface.
I started my hike at the Square Tower Overlook, a 500 foot paved trail and the second stop on the tour. This overlook views an alcove ruins site that features a four story square tower pressed against the wall of the alcove in Navajo Canyon. This site retains about 60 of an original 80 rooms. There is another ruins site directly across Navajo Canyon closer to the canyon rim.
There are three stops before arriving at Sun Point, the first of three view points across Cliff Canyon and Fewkes Canyon. This is one of the best ruins viewpoints in the region as about 12 Ancestral Pueblo Ruins sites are visible here.The largest and most eye catching from Sun Point is Sunset House. To the left of Sunset House are two smaller sites and then Cliff Palace, the largest cliff dweller site in Mesa Verde. There is another site down canyon to the right, visible with binoculars, that isn't mentioned in the interpretive information at the overlook.
Moving to the left side of the same overlook, there are views across the canyon junction toward the large alcove Cliff Palace, the Sun Temple on the mesa top, and Mummy House below the Temple and below the canyon rim. A reliable water supply in this area made it an attractive area for these numerous cliff dwellings.
A short distance further is the Oak Tree House overlook. Oak Tree House has a retaining wall at the front of the site and the area behind the wall filled in to level the floor.
This site has 50 rooms and six circular kivas. All of these sites face the south. In late February these sites are snow free while the north facing side of the canyon still is snow covered.
Just past Oak Tree House is the Fire Temple. This site has an area to the left that is thought to have been used only for ceremonies, as it shows no features associated with habitation. To the right is a split level site cliff dwelling called New Fire House. It took me about 1:00 hour to hike from Square Tower to the Fire Temple overlook including all the stops, and 40 minutes to return. I only saw two or three other visitors on a sunny 50 degree day in late February. From the Fire Temple it is another 0.6 miles to the Sun Temple.
