Richard Shattuck
Ledge House
This is a look into Betatakin in Navajo National Monument. This viewpoint was reached via a short, paved trail of about .5 mile. There's a ranger-led hike that goes into the dwellings which I'm sure would be very interesting, but it leaves in the morning (I arrived mid-afternoon) and takes at least half a day.
At its peak, Betatakin (Navajo for "ledge house") contained about 120 rooms; roughly 1/3 of them have been destroyed by rock falls within the alcove. It's estimated that about 125 people (Ancestral Puebloans) lived here. Betatakin was abandoned sometime in the mid-1300s. It was used for only about fifty years.
The opening is huge... More than 450' high.
Keet Seel is an even more-famous and better-preserved dwelling in Navajo, but it's a seventeen-mile out & back hike so it's not easily visited.
Ledge House
This is a look into Betatakin in Navajo National Monument. This viewpoint was reached via a short, paved trail of about .5 mile. There's a ranger-led hike that goes into the dwellings which I'm sure would be very interesting, but it leaves in the morning (I arrived mid-afternoon) and takes at least half a day.
At its peak, Betatakin (Navajo for "ledge house") contained about 120 rooms; roughly 1/3 of them have been destroyed by rock falls within the alcove. It's estimated that about 125 people (Ancestral Puebloans) lived here. Betatakin was abandoned sometime in the mid-1300s. It was used for only about fifty years.
The opening is huge... More than 450' high.
Keet Seel is an even more-famous and better-preserved dwelling in Navajo, but it's a seventeen-mile out & back hike so it's not easily visited.