The Mug House Trail is one of three special hikes offered during the 2010 summer season at Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado. The hike is about 2 miles roundtrip and starts at the Wetherill Mesa kiosk, the same starting point for the popular Long House and Step House Trails.
The ranger led tour leaves the parking and kiosk area on foot and starts back north along the Wetherill Mesa road. To the east across a branch of Long Canyon, there is a distant view of a small ruin site known as Lancaster House. A short distance further there is an unmarked vague trail that descends west below the rim of Rock Canyon. The narrow somewhat overgrown trail bends back south toward the Mug House alcove. There aren’t any ladders on this hike.
There are two small alcove sites along the way to Mug House. Painted Cave has a few artifacts to view and has a large reddish pictograph snake, or maybe two snakes. A short distance past is Adobe Cave where there is a small partially excavated ruin.
This section of trail is very shady and cool. When the area was excavated several burials were found in these small alcoves. In the 2010 season, these special Mug House hikes are offered every day and start at 10:00 AM, avoiding most of the summer heat. The group size is limited to 14, much smaller than the groups of 60 that visit Cliff Palace. (This hike is being offered again in 2012 but on a three times per week schedule.)
The trail enters Mug House from the left side. The site was worked on in the early years with the idea that it would be open to the public, but has been only rarely visited before 2010. Retaining walls were built and the tour groups can enter the site to the same extent as most of the other major Mesa Verde tours.
Mug House has about 100 rooms with about 8 kivas, making it one of the larger sized sites in this park that features large sites. The alcove is about 280 feet long by 42 feet deep.
Like many sites, there are upper levels and there are noticeable differences in masonry styles. There is a circular thick tower at the left end. The far right end has a keyhole style kiva.
One of the kivas in the center of the site seemed to have some colorful plaster still in place.
The view from the right side includes the large boulder where the 1891 Gustav Nordenskiold No. 19 is inscribed. Though Mug House is in a different canyon, it is only a short walk to the No 21 site Step House.
The name Mug House comes from four or five mugs found bound together with cord though the handles. The ranger pointed out the small room to the right of the inscription boulder as the site where the mugs were found.
The study found that water would have been produced about 40 times each year, for a total of about 15,000 to 20,000 gallons annually. That sounds like a lot, but if there were 80 people living here it is only 0.7 gallons per person per day. I carried 0.5 gallons just for this hike. The nearest spring is about 0.5 miles south near a site called Jug House, but there aren’t any viewpoints for Jug House.
The Rock Canyon bottom below Mug House is thought to be more fertile for farming than most other canyon bottoms in the Mesa Verde area. Most of the farming is thought to have occurred on the mesa tops, where the growing season is longer. It seems strange but the canyon bottoms have hotter summer temperatures and colder winter temperatures than the mesa tops. The Mug House tour takes 2 hours and the cost is $15. Tickets are available up to 2 days in advance in the bookstore section of the Far View Visitor Center. This is a special hike to a special site and should not be missed.
Wetherill Mesa Excavations Mug House, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
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