Activities
 

 Archaeologist-Guided Hiking

Explore Ancestral Puebloan ruins, both restored and unexcavated, in the new Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.

Learn to recognize ruin sites and artifacts while hiking through scenic beauty, accompanied by a professional archaeologist.

Experience the personal touch --with answers to your questions about what has been and what can be learned by studying Puebloan ruins.

• What is a kiva?

• Who were the Anasazi and where did they go?

• How do archaeologists know where to dig?

• What are the great mysteries of the prehistoric civilizations?

Our staff archaeologists can accommodate groups or individuals having most all levels of ability. The archaeologist will provide a detailed narration about the terrain and ruin sites along the trail.

Pricing

Half-day,  $125/up to 4 persons.

(about 4 hours, 4 to 5 miles hiking)

Full -day, $195/up to 4 persons.

(about 8 hours, 5 to 8 miles, with a packed lunch)

Each additional person: 

Add $15 for half-day or $30 for a full day, including the packed lunch.

Notes

We recommend hiking shoes or sneakers for these trips.  A large water bottle and a snack for the half day trips is appropriate.  We have small back packs and "fanny packs" available if you do not have hiking gear.  You should have sun screen and plenty of water and perhaps additional snacks as needed for the full day hike.  A packed lunch is provided but must be carried.  A liability waiver must be signed and returned to  the Kelly Place staff before a hike can begin.

Typical hiking itinerary

Beginning on Kelly Place property, you may hike to some of the ruins we have on-site.  This may take 60 to 90 minutes.  You can visit a fully restored kiva and its associated 13-room pueblo.  You may visit a second kiva which is structurally restored but not fully surfaced. 

You may continue along the old McElmo roadbed near a cliff face and see ruins left by early European/American settlers and some structures built by George Kelly.  You will also pass below an Anasazi cliff-style grain storage site.

You will enter the Canyons of the Ancients Monument via a small red-rock canyon at the Kelly Place northern boundary.  Canyons of the Ancients was designated a National Monument by President Clinton in 1999. It encompasses 164,000 acres and has the highest known density of Ancestral Puebloan ruin sites.  To date, we are the only guiding agency permitted to conduct hiking tours into the Monument.

The trail leads gently upward along a ridge between two canyons until you reach an upper cliff face--the White Rim.  Several cliff-dwellings built into the White Rim can be visited on your tour.  Kelly Place has  partnered with the BLM and volunteer groups to stabilize  some of these ruins,  so that  the sites will be maintained in their present condition for  future generations to enjoy.

If you are taking the full day hike, your guide will find a shady place near the ruins to have lunch.  Half day hikes will return via the same trail to the lodge.

The afternoon session is comprised of either continuing up the canyon and seeing other ruin sites or returning to Kelly Place and heading to Sand Canyon and hiking  to ruins there.  The lower Sand Canyon trailhead is a short drive from Kelly Place (about 2 miles).

Full day hikes may optionally proceed on a longer loop trail which heads west from the lunch location and covers several canyons and more ruins to the west.

Make Your Reservation Today

Advance notice is required for the guided hikes. Hiking in the Monument is not recommended for physically impaired persons.  Some climbing over broken rocks and narrow trails should be expected.  You will typically travel from 5,500 feet above sea level to 6,900 feet in two miles.