Step House

Step House is a compact cliff dwelling in a sandstone alcove on Wetherill Mesa, with a masonry pueblo beside older pit structures. It is the park’s self-guided dwelling, so you do not need a ranger-tour reservation. When it is open, you can explore at your own pace with a ranger on duty in the dwelling. I’d keep it on your list if you want to walk among a cliff dwelling and see two very different periods in one stop.

The route from Wetherill Mesa Pavilion is about one mile round trip, partly paved and gravel, with many steps and an uphill return that can be challenging. Wetherill Mesa is seasonal, and Step House opens only when a ranger is present, so check the park’s current schedule before making the long drive. Pets are not allowed on the Step House trail.

Wetherill Road is a 12-mile, winding drive to the pavilion; allow 30 to 45 minutes from the turnoff. Vehicles longer than 25 feet or heavier than 8,000 pounds are not permitted. The pavilion snack bar sells packaged food and drinks when it is operating; that is a separate stop from the dwelling.

The earlier Basketmaker III pithouse community dates to the early 600s CE. A Pueblo III masonry pueblo was built here in the 1200s. Those labels describe archaeological periods among successive generations of the same Ancestral Pueblo cultural group, not two unrelated peoples.

The roughly 300-foot alcove holds six known Basketmaker III pit structures beside a pueblo with 27 rooms and three kivas. The later pueblo sits at the south end, leaving part of the earlier site undisturbed. The change from low, sunken structures to masonry rooms is easier to understand when you look across the alcove as a whole.

Gustaf Nordenskiöld made the first known excavation here in 1891 with the Wetherill ranchers as guides, but the earlier pit structures were not recognized. In 1926, excavators found them beneath a two- to six-foot layer of refuse left by the later residents. A 1962 project uncovered three more pithouses, including two buried beneath the pueblo, and stabilized the masonry.

For a photo, frame the alcove broadly enough to include the masonry pueblo and the earlier pit structures together. A close shot of one wall loses the feature that makes Step House unusual.