The trail head area for Casa Colorado is accessed at the south end of Mesa Verde National Park in the vicinity of the Mesa Top Pit House to Pueblo self guided tour. This is the same beginning area for the Pool Canyon Trail, another of the rarely offered Ute Mountain tours. After a short drive across the park boundary the hike begins along the east rim of Navajo Canyon.
The popular Spruce Tree Canyon area is a side canyon to the north of this section of larger Navajo Canyon. The hike along the rim is about 0.5 miles to an unnamed side canyon with Casa Colorado at the head of this short side canyon.
There were at least 3 ruins sites visible across the Navajo Canyon the west side. One of them we thought was named Casa Blanca and there also appears to be a tower visible. You would need binoculars to see these distant sites very well. At the canyon bottom there appears to be an old road.
There is an old 1930s era trail just below the rim heading east to toward the ruins site but it is unmaintained and wasn’t obvious on the outward leg. In 2009, most of our group made their way slowly through the Pinon Pine and Juniper forest but mostly not on any trail. The route was somewhat difficult and there was some scrambling through and over the jumbled rocks. The distance was only about 0.3 miles and the ruins site was visible most of the way.
On the 2011 hike to Casa Colorado, the tour stayed on the north rim of the side canyon and circled around the canyon head, then approached the Casa Colorado site from the south side. Those who wanted could try to descend down to the next ledge and view the site from the right side.
Casa Colorado is difficult to approach no matter which way you try. The 2011 approach involved some tricky climbing.
The trail approaches from the left side. It was possible, though not easy, on the 2009 hike, to approach the Casa Colorado closely from the right side by descending to the canyon bottom and climbing up the other side. It looked like the right side would have been the main entrance.
In 2009, a few of our active group chose to climb to the canyon rim from this right side of the site, going out over the top of the ruin, but most returned back the way we came. In 2011 the right side climb was the guided way in. The return trip was a little easier, and was mostly on the old trail below the rim.
The total hike to Casa Colorado and nearby Inaccessible House was about 6:30 hours with about half the time spent at each site. The total distance was only about 3 miles but the going wasn’t easy and there was a lot of lingering at each site.
The popular Spruce Tree Canyon area is a side canyon to the north of this section of larger Navajo Canyon. The hike along the rim is about 0.5 miles to an unnamed side canyon with Casa Colorado at the head of this short side canyon.
There were at least 3 ruins sites visible across the Navajo Canyon the west side. One of them we thought was named Casa Blanca and there also appears to be a tower visible. You would need binoculars to see these distant sites very well. At the canyon bottom there appears to be an old road.
There is an old 1930s era trail just below the rim heading east to toward the ruins site but it is unmaintained and wasn’t obvious on the outward leg. In 2009, most of our group made their way slowly through the Pinon Pine and Juniper forest but mostly not on any trail. The route was somewhat difficult and there was some scrambling through and over the jumbled rocks. The distance was only about 0.3 miles and the ruins site was visible most of the way.
The trail approaches from the left side. It was possible, though not easy, on the 2009 hike, to approach the Casa Colorado closely from the right side by descending to the canyon bottom and climbing up the other side. It looked like the right side would have been the main entrance.
In 2009, a few of our active group chose to climb to the canyon rim from this right side of the site, going out over the top of the ruin, but most returned back the way we came. In 2011 the right side climb was the guided way in. The return trip was a little easier, and was mostly on the old trail below the rim.The total hike to Casa Colorado and nearby Inaccessible House was about 6:30 hours with about half the time spent at each site. The total distance was only about 3 miles but the going wasn’t easy and there was a lot of lingering at each site.
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