House of Many Windows View Point

The House of Many Windows Trail is a 3 (or maybe 6) mile segment of paved road along the Cliff Palace Loop that visits five overlooks and has a continuous cross canyon view. This is an off season hike. Most summer visitors pass by the middle view points after visiting Cliff Palace or heading to Balcony House.

After the first week of November, the Ranger guided tours at Cliff Palace and Balcony House close for the season. The road remains open until it is impassible with snow. I started my mid November hike at the Cliff Palace parking area. The road was still open and there was very little traffic. The stunning Cliff Palace is always worth a quick view from the overlook area.

The first viewpoint after Cliff Palace is the Cliff Canyon Overlook. This point is across the canyon from Sun Point which is one of the best ruins view points in the region, with up to 12 sites visible. To the right on the same side of this canyon rim is a side view of Sunset House.

Looking across the canyon, there are three ruins sites visible. Sun Point Dwelling, to the right has only three rooms along a narrow ledge. Site 634 in the middle, has 16 rooms and two kivas. Way to the left is the House of Many Windows.

The second lookout point gives a more direct view of the House of Many Windows. The multiple openings are actually doors. The site is thought to have 11 rooms and maybe a kiva. From this point there is a view up the canyon toward the Sun Temple and a glimpse of Oak Tree House.

The paved road turns east and the scene shifts from Cliff Canyon to Soda Canyon. Right at the turning point, there is a segment of old paved road that offers better views than the main road. It appears that the road was abandoned because it cut too deeply into the adjacent Ute Mountain Tribal Park. I followed the abandoned road which stayed along the canyon rim. It rejoins the main road at the next lookout point.

The next lookout point is for Hemenway House, named for Mary Hemenway, a Massachusetts woman who financially supported the early archaeological research in the southwest. The site named for her is spread out in a very large alcove.

The next view point is the Balcony House parking area, though Balcony House isn’t visible. The tour of Balcony House is popular and features ladders to climb and a short tunnel to crawl through. Further up the road the 1.2 mile Soda Canyon Trail leads to two overlook points that offer the only views from outside balcony House.

After the Soda Canyon Trail, the road loops back to Cliff Palace. My hike, with the road open was about 3 miles and I spent about 2:00 hours. If the road is closed, the distance to make the loop increases to 6 miles. I walked on a 40 F degree blue sky day in mid November.

Small Ruins on the Farming Terrace Trail

The Cedar Tree Tower and the 0.5 mile Farming Terrace Trail are located along a short side road near the Chapin Mesa Museum area in Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado. This pair of attractions is probably often overlooked.

The Cedar Tree Tower location has a good view down a deep canyon. The interpretive information raises the question of why were towers built. This tower is in good position for signaling, but there is not another obvious tower in sight.

There are a lot of towers in the region, particularly in the Hovenweep National Monument, but the reasons for them are not clear. The Cedar Tree Tower is in combination with a circular kiva and there is a connecting tunnel. There is another tower and kiva combination on the Badger House Trail on the Wetherill Mesa part of Mesa Verde.

Nearby Cedar Tree Tower the short Farming Terrace Trail winds around a dry wash area. The Pinion Pine and Utah Juniper trees along the trail are scorched from the recent forest fires. The highlight of this trail is the series of check dams built across the gully to catch runoff and limit erosion in a dry climate. It is pointed out that in dry years these check dam areas provided more moisture for agriculture than the mesa top fields.

Upstream of the check dams there is a small ruins structure. This site isn’t pointed out and isn’t visible from the trail, though it is very close by. The Cedar Tree Tower is visible across the drainage, through the burnt over forest. It makes sense that some sort of a dwelling would be in the vicinity of the farming terraces.

This site looks like it has been excavated recently as there are piles of sandstone bricks nearby. The extensive forest fires that have occurred since 2000 are said to have revealed many previously unknown sites, and perhaps this is one. It makes an interesting addition to this short trail.