Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
construction began around AD 1210. Like other sites, the old walls and houses have been
stabilized.
During winter, there are free ranger-led guided tours at 10am, 1pm and 3:30pm.
Cliff Palace & Mesa Top Loops
This is the most visited part of the park. Access to the major Ancestral Puebloan sites is
only by ranger-led tour, and tickets must be pre-purchased at the Far View Visitor Center.
Cliff Palace
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
(Cliff Palace Loop; 1hr guided tour $3; )
The only way to see the superb Cliff Palace is to
take the hour-long ranger-led tour. The tour retraces the steps taken by the Ancestral
Puebloans - visitors must climb down a stone stairway and four 10ft ladders. This grand
engineering achievement, with 217 rooms and 23 kivas, provided shelter for 250 to 300
people.
Its inhabitants were without running water. However, springs across the canyon, below
Sun Temple, were most likely their primary water sources. The use of small 'chinking'
stones between the large blocks is strikingly similar to Ancestral Puebloan construction at
distant Chaco Canyon.
Balcony House
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
(Cliff Palace Loop; 1hr guided tour $3; )
Tickets are required for the one-hour guided
tours of Balcony House, on the east side of the Cliff Palace Loop. A visit is quite an ad-
venture and will challenge anyone's fear of heights or small places. You'll be rewarded
with outstanding views of Soda Canyon, 600ft below the sandstone overhang that once
served as the ceiling for 35 to 40 rooms.
The Balcony House tour requires you to descend a 100ft staircase into the canyon, then
climb a 32ft ladder, crawl through a 12ft tunnel and climb an additional 60ft of ladders
and stone steps to get out. It's the most challenging tour in the park but might just be the
most rewarding, not to mention fun!
