Mesa Verde, Great Sand Dunes, and Rocky Mountain tend to top the list of national parks and monuments in Colorado, but with that fame comes crowds, lines, and stress.
Not so Yucca House.
Never heard of it? Yucca House National Monument is a little-known national monument barely an hour from Durango. Curious? Read on to learn more.
Yucca House National Monument was designated in 1919 but has remained relatively untouched. On-site facilities are negligible. There is no visitor center, campground, store, or interpretive trail. In fact, there’s barely even a sign for it, and to see it you park in someone’s yard.
The park is located south of Cortez off U.S. 491. Use GPS to find your way–signage leading you to the park is nearly nonexistent.
The site was surveyed in the 1870s and originally excavated in 1910. When designated, the park measured just 9.5 acres. It was expanded to 33 acres in 1996 after a land donation. The site is managed by Mesa Verde National Park staff and does not have its own administration. The park sees less than 1,000 visitors a year, which among the least-visited national monuments in the U.S.
There are plans to further expand the park following a land donation. There has also been some access controversy due to an existing easement that has not been honored.
Yucca House is an ancestral Puebloan village site that was occupied from roughly 1100 to 1300 by a large number of people. One excavation report said that the pueblo had 600 rooms, 100 kivas, and several towers. The village has two settlement areas–the Western Complex, which is built around a spring, and the Lower House.
The site is just one of dozens that dot the McElmo Creek drainage, including many sites that are privately owned.
Today, visitors park adjacent to a farm house and pass through a marked gate. A short walk leads to the West Complex, which includes an impressive remnant building about 20 feet high. Below is Lower House, an L-shaped pueblo with a plaza and great kiva.
In contrast to many of the more famous sites in the Four Corners, which were built in a way that suggests there was a strong emphasis placed on defense, Yucca House is a valley-biottom Pueblo site. Today, it’s surrounded by productive ag lands–which was likely the scene when the site was fully occupied.
Unofficial paths lead around the two sites and along some of the standing walls. Yucca House has never been fully excavated, so the site mostly looks the same today as it has for centuries. A large number of sherds may easily be seen while walking–take care not to step on any pottery and do not remove any artifacts from the site.
Other Puebloan sites can be found near Yucca. The most intriguing are in the Ute Mountain Tribal Park, which requires a special guide. Other sites can be found in nearby Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.
Yucca House is one of the many incredible but unknown public lands near Durango.
At Durango Outdoor Exchange, the used gear store in Durango, we celebrate public lands and access to them. Stop by the store to learn more and gear up for your next adventure.
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