Petroglyph Trail Canyon Views

The interpretive Petroglyph Trail travels a 2.4 mile loop below and above the rim of Spruce Canyon in the Chapin Mesa area of Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado.. The trailhead is at the Chapin Mesa Museum and begins with the paved descent to Spruce Tree House. When hiking in the morning, most of this hike is in the shade of the cool canyon.

There are 34 stops along the trail, emphasizing the plants of the canyon and mesa top and their possible uses to the people and wildlife that live here. The main trees are Pinon Pines, Utah Junipers, and Gambel Oaks with Douglas Firs in the cool shady parts of the canyon. 

The mix of shrubs can vary with subtle factors such as facing north or south and the soils. Most of the shrubs that occur at Mesa Verde are pointed out along this trail.

The trail leads to at least three alcoves as it winds its way south just under the canyon rim. One of the alcoves has some small ruins structures. The under the rim route has many steps that have been engineered or carved to make traveling easier, but it is still slow going and rocky, with many ups and downs. The tricky footing, the shade of the tall trees and the wide views encourage stopping and viewing the natural features.

There are several places where the trail squeezes through narrow cracks in the sandstone cliffs. Across the canyon there are alcoves visible, with binoculars, that have ruins sites. Looking back up Spruce Canyon, the Thomas House ruin is visible. This site is above the Spruce Canyon Trail but isn't visible from the bottom of the canyon where the trail leads.

Further on is the junction with Navajo Canyon. The trail visible on the canyon floor leads to Spring House, a Ranger led hike that was offered in 2010 and 2011

. At the tip of the canyon junction Teakettle House is visible on the sandstone cliffs.

Beyond interpretive stop 20 and on to 26, the Navajo Watch Tower is visible across the canyon with binoculars. This is a tower at the top of a rounded knob to the right of the drainage, in the first layer of cliffs below the rim layer. It is also visible on the ranger led hike to Spring House.

The highlight of the trail is the petroglyph panel at the far end of the loop. This is a medium sized panel, and is the best known in Mesa Verde. This one is a little unusual in that there are comments in the trail guide offering some interpretation. 

This panel does not seem to be associated with a large ruins site and it not at an obvious canyon junction. Just past the petroglyph panel the trail climbs back to the rim and returns back toward the Chapin Mesa Museum area. (There is a separate post with more views and the interpretation. Use the Petroglyph Trail label to find.)

After the Petroglyph, the trail climbs to the mesa top and loops back toward the trail head. From the mesa top view, Echo House is visible in a large alcove back to the south. The mesa top trail segment is mostly level and smooth.

In the final segment, there are views of the small storage ruins at the head of the Spruce Tree House side canyon. My hike took 2:00 hours for the 2.4 miles on a 75 F degree late July morning.

Petroglyph Trail-Interpretation

The 2.4 mile Petroglyph Trail in Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado is probably the best all around hiking trail in the park that can be visited every year.

The Petroglyph Trail itself visits the rocky, sheltered, and forested area just below the rim of Spruce Canyon, passes by a small ruins site and goes past the best petroglyph site in Mesa Verde. But before you get to that, the interpretive descent into the canyon identifies many of the common plants of the canyon and passes by Spruce Tree House, one of two cliff dweller sites that can be visited without going on a ranger guided tour.

The trail has a lot of ups and downs, rocky steps and wide canyon views before arriving at the highlight petroglyph panel. The trail guide offers some interpretations that were provided by current day Hopi Native Americans.

The squarish swirl below the hand print represents the "Sipapu" the place where the Pueblo People emerged from the earth, taken as the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona. To the left of the Sipapu and higher the Eagle Clan symbol indicates that they separated from the main migration group. To the left of the Eagle, the Mountain Sheep Clan also dropped away from the migration.

 The human figures represent the people and the "whipping Kachinas" influencing the people. The "whipping Kachinas" are spirits who "straightened out" the people and gave direction to their travels. I imagine we could all benefit from "whipping Kachinas."

In current Hopi religion the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona are the home of the Kachinas, the spirits who bring the rain so that the corn will grow. Corn was the most important crop of these people and still plays an important spiritual role.

The swirl to the right has two interpretations. It represents the either the end of the migration, here in Mesa Verde, or the future end in the modern Hopi Villages in Arizona. To the left of the swirl is a lizard symbol, meaning either that the Horned Toad clan separated off from the migration, or the Lizard Spirit had influence, causing a period of wandering without direction. The human figure to the left of the lizard is another "whipping Kachina."

To the left of the "whipping Kachina" is either the Mountain Lion Clan symbol, or an all powerful animal spirit watching over the people in their travels. These interpretations cover about half of the figures that are here. There are several hand prints, and other animal and human figures and a lot of swirled lines.

After the petroglyph panel the trail climbs to the canyon rim and returns loops back toward the Spruce Tree House area, giving some views from above and to the side.