Winter Pictures from Yucca House

This monument preserves a large Ancestral Puebloan surface site in southwestern Colorado. It is located west of Mesa Verde National Park between the towns of Towaoc and Cortez. The ancient structures are on the gently sloping base of the Sleeping Ute Mountain. Below are a few pictures from winter 2004.

Yucca House entrance gate

Yucca House mound in yellow square and Mesa Verde in the distance

Rabbit tracks at Yucca House

Hawks nest in cottonwoods at Yucca House

Claret Cup Cactus at Yucca House

Juniper Berrys at Yucca House

The name "Yucca House" was selected for the monument because the Ute Indians called Sleeping Ute Mountain by a name meaning yucca, for there is an abundance of the yucca plant growing on the mountainsides. Sign the visitor book, walk around the mounds, and absorb the beauty of the site in this valley. Try to imagine life here hundreds of years ago.

The National Park Service does not recommend travel to this monument for the casual visitor. There are currently no facilities at the monument. The dirt road to Yucca House is impassable in wet weather.

The monument, which is patrolled periodically by a Park Ranger, is under the supervision of the Superintendent at Mesa Verde National Park. Contact Mesa Verde National Park at (970)529-4465 if you have further questions.