AtlasCedar Mesa

Three Kiva Pueblo

verified ACA 1A Unknown flood risk Blanding, UT
Three Kiva Pueblo
Clyde Charles Brown, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Archaeological site with reconstructed Indian Kivas.

One of the few Montezuma Canyon archaeological sites that is not on private land, which is why you can walk into it at all; many of the others are visible only from the county road. Brigham Young University work documented 14 rooms, three kivas, a possible turkey run, and a ramada. One kiva has been reconstructed and fitted with a ladder, so you can climb down inside it, and the earth covered roof is solid enough to stand on. The drive is the real cost: roughly 27 miles of dirt on the Montezuma Creek Road from Highway 191 south of Monticello, or about 16 miles of gravel if you come in via the Hatch Trading Post on Highway 262, which is longer but far less washboard. Plan two hours of driving each way. Outside the Cedar Mesa and Comb Ridge fee area, so no pass applies.

Logistics

ManagerBLM Monticello Field Office
PermitNo permit required. Montezuma Canyon site, outside the Cedar Mesa/Comb Ridge fee-permit boundary.
Technicallongest 0 ft
SeasonApr-Oct
Coordinates37.5653, -109.2521

Sources