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Sites Stonetracker has logged.  View this log as a table or view the most recent logs from everyone

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Sort by: Site Name (A/D) County/ Region (A/D) Visited? (A/D) Date Added (A/D) Date Visited (A/D) Trip Number (A/D)

Mesa Verde - Far View Tower

Date Added: 13th Jul 2025
Site Type: Ancient Temple Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Mesa Verde - Far View Tower

Mesa Verde - Far View Tower submitted by jeffrep on 10th Nov 2012. Tower and two kivas at Far View Tower in Mesa Verde.
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Log Text: This is likely another small Ancestral Pueblo village site in the Far View Community consisting of multiple room blocks and kivas. After the initial construction and occupation, a tower was later built over one of the original kivas.

Access is via a 100-200 yd flat foot path that heads north from the loop road near Far View House. On-street parking is available on the Far View loop road.



Shay Canyon Rock Art

Date Added: 8th Jun 2025
Site Type: Rock Art Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 2

Shay Canyon Rock Art

Shay Canyon Rock Art submitted by stonetracker on 6th Jun 2025. This is the first of many panels that extend into the canyon. Hard to date these, but the triangular bodies suggest Basketmaker to Ancestral Pueblo/Fremont. I'm guessing some of the more abstract images are older.
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Log Text: This and Sego Canyon were probably my favorite rock art sites on this trip, offering the best combination of variety and close access to petroglyphs, once you hike to the site itself.

To get there, drive south for 40 miles from Moab or north 14 miles from Monticello on Route 191 and then head west on Route 211. Newspaper Rock is at the 12 mile mark where there are restrooms. From there, continue on Route 211 for another 1.9 miles to a small pulloff on the left. Park there.

The trail starts at the south end of the parking area and descends steeply to Indian Creek. The creek is quite small, but there is no bridge so you may have to walk upriver or down slightly to find a narrow enough point to get across via stepping stones.

Once across head down the dry wash area towards the canyon. In 200 ft there are trails off the the right that lead somewhat steeple to the cliff base where it comes to a point. The panels start there. Most of them are to the left and extend about 0.25 miles. There are one or two to the right.

The entire trail including the scramble along the cliff base is about 1 mile round trip. I say scramble because the path along the panels although mostly flat is quite rocky in places and requires good balance on the slight up and down sections.



Edge of the Cedars State Park and Museum

Date Added: 10th Jun 2025
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Edge of the Cedars State Park and Museum

Edge of the Cedars State Park and Museum submitted by AKFisher on 14th Sep 2023. Edge of Cedars Indian Ruin. Photo credit: Wiki (Pma03).
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Log Text: This site is a combination museum and partially excavated Ancestral Pueblo Great House. It has been designated Edge of the Cedars State Park. The museum and grounds have outstanding displays describing the prehistory of not only southeastern Utah but the surrounding regions. Excavated artifacts, especially pottery and ceramics, are a standout feature of the facility.

I believe the museum has access for disabled visitors. The excavated great house is in the rear of the building. The major structures are connected by paved pathways and excellent interpretation. It also features a small kiva that you can climb into and that has been restored to nearly original condition.

The site is in Blanding UT. To get there from Route 191 which goes through the city center, drive west on West Center St for about 0.5 mile. Turn right onto N 600 W St. In 0.4 mile, turn left onto W 400 N St. In 200 ft, turn right. The museum is another 200 ft on the left.



Five Kiva Pueblo Ruins

Date Added: 19th Jun 2025
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 2

Five Kiva Pueblo Ruins

Five Kiva Pueblo Ruins submitted by stonetracker on 16th Jun 2025. View from the overlook of Five Kiva Pueblo on the other side of the canyon
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Log Text: The site can be viewed remotely with binoculars or photo zoom from an overlook on the mesa top via a short path from the trail head. A number of web sites say that you can also hike an "easy" trail from this point down into the canyon floor and west up the other side to the alcove to get very close to the ruins. However if there was a single trail, it wasn't obvious to me. It was more of a steep scramble network of paths around boulders and ledges that I would rate as moderately difficult except maybe for a youngster ! In any case I didn't have the time and opted to stay at the overlook.

To get to the trail head from Blanding, take Route 191 from its junction with E 500 St south and take a right onto Ruins Rd. Follow Ruins Rd 1.7 miles to its unpaved dead end. There is a metal sign for the trailhead on the right with some rock steps and a pipe railing. The overlook is approximately 100 ft down the ledge.



Spirit Cave Ruins

Date Added: 19th Jun 2025
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 2

Spirit Cave Ruins

Spirit Cave Ruins submitted by stonetracker on 19th Jun 2025. Rear of the circular kiva wall looking out the alcove
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Log Text: As is the case with Five Kiva Ruin nearby, you can either view the site from an overlook or take a roundabout "trail" around the lip of the top of the canyon and scramble down some ledges to the canyon floor. The ruins are a short walk from and at the same level as the canyon floor.

To get to the parking area from Blanding, head south on US-191 for 4 miles and turn west onto UT-95 toward Natural Bridges National Monument. From the US-191/UT-95 intersection, aka Shirttail Junction, measure 1.7 miles and turn right onto unpaved San Juan County Road 288 aka Warren Allen Rd. This road may not be marked with a sign!

Continue on CR 288 for 0.4 miles and turn right at the first road junction. From here the road gets a little rougher. Careful drivers in passenger vehicles might have little or no trouble but if in doubt there is a parking pulloff to the left at this intersection. Drive (or walk) another 0.3 mile to a large cleared area on the right. Park here. The coordinates for this spot are 37.58524, -109.51625.

Walk down the hill east to a big semicircular ledge. The alcove containing the ruins is under this bench. To view it remotely, simply walk to the right along the lip of the canyon about 100-200 yds and the ruins will come into view down inside the alcove on the left.

I chose to hike to the canyon floor and access the alcove and ruins at close range. There is no official trail to the canyon floor but a network of social paths that I would call easy to moderate. Walk to the left about 200-300 yds and follow the canyon lip around to the east. Take the easiest way down that you can find. There may be a small amount of scrambling needed around rocks but it is a very short descent to the bottom. At the canyon bottom, turn right and head west about 200 yds towards the alcove and the ruins.



Mesa Verde - Cedar Tree Tower

Date Added: 14th Jul 2025
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Mesa Verde - Cedar Tree Tower

Mesa Verde - Cedar Tree Tower submitted by stonetracker on 14th Jul 2025. Classic Mesa Verdean kiva. There is a small opening in the back wall that leads underground to the tower.
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Log Text: This site is at the end of a paved side road heading east from the main park road. The side road is approximately 5 miles south of the Far View Community site and a 1/2 mile north of the Spruce Tree House overlook and Chapin Mesa Museum.

The side road leads in about 1/2 mile to a dead end loop with on-street parking. The tower and kiva are located right next to the parking loop.



Mesa Verde - Pithouse

Date Added: 18th Jul 2025
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Mesa Verde - Pithouses and Pueblos

Mesa Verde - Pithouses and Pueblos submitted by jeffrep on 14th Nov 2012. Pit house.
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Log Text: This is the first stop on the Mesa Top Loop, a one-way driving loop featuring actual excavated sites with interpretation that cover Basketmaker 3 through Pueblo 3 cultural periods.

The Pithouse stop is about a mile south of Chapin Museum and Spruce Tree House overlook. The actual pithouse is less than 100 ft south of the parking pulloff under a shelter, accessible via a paved foot path.



Mesa Verde - Far View House

Date Added: 22nd Jun 2025
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Mesa Verde - Far View House

Mesa Verde - Far View House submitted by Creative Commons on 6th Jan 2019. Far View House Far View was one of the most densely populated parts of the mesa from A.D. 900 to about A.D. 1300. Nearly 50 villages have been identified within a half square mile area, and were home to hundreds of people. Today, several excavated and stabilized sites are linked by a trail system within a short walking distance. These surface sites include Far View House, Pipe Shrine House, Coyote Village, Far View Reservoir, Megalithic House, and Far View Tower. Image copyright: Anomieus (Rhia...
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Log Text: This is a Chacoan style great house from the Pueblo 2 period (950 -1150 CE). Like most great houses, it served as a community center for ritual and social activities. It also possibly was used as a central storage point for harvested produce.

The people lived in room blocks in small villages dispersed around the great house. There were at least 50 villages in Far View, of which a handful have been excavated and restored and can be visited today.

To visit the Far View great house and village structures, drive approximately 2 miles south of Far View Terrace Cafe on the main park road and turn left onto a side road. Oddly for such a major site it is not well marked. The side road ends in a loop. Parking is limited to wherever you can pull off the road in various pullouts. There's no real parking lot !

The great house is steps away from the dead end loop.

Unfortunately, when I was there, the great house had a number of tarps strewn over parts of it and it looked like they were doing some restoration or maintenance. Most of the inside was roped off and closed to visitation. I don't know if this is always the case. But it was difficult to take any photos other than of the outside walls. A raised observation platform would have been helpful.



Mesa Verde - Pipe Shrine House

Date Added: 22nd Jun 2025
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Mesa Verde - Pipe Shrine House

Mesa Verde - Pipe Shrine House submitted by jeffrep on 10th Nov 2012. Spiral Petroglyph on outer wall of Pipe Shrine House in Mesa Verde.
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Log Text: Pipe Shrine House is an Ancestral Pueblo village built just 100 yds south of the Far View great house and consists of approximately 20 room blocks, a large interior kiva, and what appears to be a circular room next to the kiva that may have been a tower. The village was built and modified between 900 and 1300 CE, so it spans the Pueblo 2 and 3 periods. There is some debate as to whether this site was purely ceremonial or served as a homestead for villagers farming the mesa top. (or both!). More in Comments section.

To get there, see the visit log for Far View House as the directions are the same. Pipe Shrine House is but a 100 yd walk south from the great house. The interior of the room block site is off limits to visitation; however, the surrounding area is at enough of an elevation that you can get a good sense of the overall architecture. The kiva however is difficult to see well given the access restrictions in May of 2025.



Mesa Verde - Mummy Lake

Date Added: 12th Jul 2025
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Mesa Verde - Mummy Lake

Mesa Verde - Mummy Lake submitted by jeffrep on 13th Nov 2012. Far View Reservoir (also known as Mummy Lake), one of four reservoirs for domestic water storage at Mesa Verde between 750 and 1180AD.
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Log Text: This site is part of the Far View community of Ancestral Pueblo sites in Mesa Verde National Park. The structure, a large depression with earthen embankments reinforced by stone revetments in some parts, was originally thought to be a manmade water collection and reservoir area, likely built in the Pueblo 2 period. There is a ditch leading out the south side of the structure. It is in fact now called Far View Reservoir, rather than its original name of Mummy Lake.

However, this interpretation has been called into question and the purpose of the structure remains controversial.

It is accessible via a 1/4 to 1/2 mile flat walking trail north about midway down the access road to Far View House. Parking is available on the side of the road or at the dead end near Far View House.



Mesa Verde - Spruce Tree House

Date Added: 13th Jul 2025
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 4

Mesa Verde - Spruce Tree House

Mesa Verde - Spruce Tree House submitted by DrewParsons on 19th Oct 2008. Site in United States: Mesa Verde - Spruce Tree House photographed in September 2005
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Log Text: Visited in May 2025. Unfortunately, this cliff dwelling from the Pueblo 3 period, probably the best preserved of all the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, has been closed to visitation since 2015. A portion of the alcove overhang collapsed, creating a serious safety issue, and forcing the closure ever since. There have been ongoing efforts to determine how to best stabilize the site for future visitation.

Meanwhile an overlook behind the Chapin Museum provides excellent views and interpretation of the cliff dwelling. The area is still well worth a visit. The short 100-200 yd path to the overlook is paved and I believe is wheel chair accessible.



Mesa Verde - Square Tower House

Date Added: 18th Jul 2025
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Mesa Verde - Square Tower House

Mesa Verde - Square Tower House submitted by DrewParsons on 18th Oct 2008. Detail of the Square Tower House site at Mesa Verde
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Log Text: This is a cliff dwelling from the Ancestral Pueblo 3 period featuring the tallest tower structure still standing in the park. There are two ways to see the cliff dwelling. Remotely, from an overlook at the canyon rim. Or much closer, via periodically scheduled ranger-led hikes into the cliff dwelling complex itself. I opted for the overlook view, as they were just starting the guided tours (around the end of the first week in May in 2025).

Parking at the trailhead is available about 1/2 mile south of the Pithouse stop on the Mesa Top Loop road. The paved trail to the overlook is about 600 ft long and provides a nice view of the complex.




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Pages: [<<] . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 . 8 . 9 . 10 . 11 . 12 . 13 . 14 . [>>]

Sites Stonetracker has logged.  View this log as a table or view the most recent logs from everyone