Square Tower House Guided Hike

The Square Tower House overlook is the third stop on the Mesa Top Pit House to Pueblo Tour at Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado. For many years, since the 1930s, the view from the overlook was only way for visitors to see the Square Tower House.

In the Fall season of 2011 from September 1 to October 15, ranger guided hikes into the site are offered on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. These tours start at 8:00 AM and last about 2 hours. There is a $20 charge and reservations have to be made. Each tour is limited to 10 hikers.

The 1 mile round trip hike is advertised as strenuous, but seemed to me to be very easy except that there are two ladders to descend. The transition from the carved steps to the lower ladder looks a little tricky from above, but there are ropes to hold on to.

The short segment of trail from the trailhead to the ladders has a spectacular view across Navajo Canyon with Echo House visible across the canyon. This trail was part of the CCC construction in the 1930s and includes the type of carved steps that are seen on other older trails in the park. The ladders are new for 2011.

The tour crosses in front of the site and begins at the left end. In this left side area a boulder broke loose in recent years and did some damage to some of the walls. The ranger related that there was consultation with current day pueblo people about what to do about the damage, and the result was that the damage was part of the natural process and should be accepted.

The park works to stabilize these structures but not to rebuild them in the current era. At first glance, the eye catching structures are the 28 foot Square Tower and the Crow’s Nest high in a crevice. The left side is the location of the Nordenskiold No. 8 and the John Wetherill JW initials. These historic inscriptions are visible but somewhat small and faint.

Just to the right of the tall tower, there is a kiva with half of the roof still in place. Some of the construction details of the placement of wood beams are visible along with a cross section of the packed mud surface.

From this same view point there are close up views of the Square Tower. This is the tallest structure in Mesa Verde.

Further to the right there is another kiva with part of the roof still intact. The view into the kiva is from a lower angle and some of the cribbing of the log roof is visible.

From the right side there are also the closest views of the Crow’s Nest. This structure isn’t visible from the overlook. We had a discussion of what the Crow’s Nest was for but the exact purpose isn’t known. It could have been a lookout or signaling point. It looks like it might have been possible to enter the site along the crevice and ledges where the Crow’s Nest is located but it looks very tricky. There are some very faint petroglyphs in the sandstone on the right side of the site but they are difficult to see.

An interesting point was made about the two tone plaster that is sometimes seen at these sites. The upper band of plaster is white and the lower band is buff colored.

Turning and looking out at the canyon, the upper sky is bright above a darker buff color of the sandstone cliffs. The interior decoration imitates the natural views outside. The ranger made the point that the people were very in touch with their environment, more than we are today.

With stops for discussion, it took our group of seven 0:45 minutes to arrive at Square Tower House. We spent 0:50 minutes viewing the site and 0:25 minutes to return to the trailhead. It was a 68 F degree September morning and most of the hike was in shade. I carried 2 liters of water but didn’t drink until the hike was completed.