16 Room Cliff House Travel Guide.

16 Room House, aka 15 or 17 Room House (disagreement among archaeologists on the correct number of rooms in the pueblo), is an Anasazi cliff dwelling stretching across a massive alcove.  Windows within the rooms look down upon land that may have been used for farming, and the San Juan River.  Pictographs on the walls contain a large number of hand prints.

·         Location from Monticello is 107 miles using CR 441 route, or 111.1 miles using CR 438 route. Travel 58.1 miles along Hwy 191 (make a left turn at the junction of Hwy 191/163 to continue on Hwy 191).  This area is Navajo Reservation land, please remember to stay on designated roads and do not trespass onto private lands. There are two ways to get to 16 Room House, County Road 441 (maintained dirt/gravel road) for 6.9 miles to the junction of County Road 438, then 4.8 miles along CR 438 (maintained dirt/gravel road this section only) to the ruin site.  Or continue down Hwy 191 for three (3) additional miles to County Road 438 which is paved for eight (8) miles before the junction with CR 441, then continue the 4.8 miles to the ruin site.

This altered map is from an original from gjhikes.com

·         Admission: Free

·         Difficulty: Trail up to ruin site is extremely steep and narrow before a narrow ledge to enter the various rooms along the alcove.

·         Camping: Not Allowed

·         Pets: Not Allowed

·         Facilities: None, nearest town (Bluff) is 25.1 miles.

We spent several hours exploring the ruins and taking the short trail down to the San Juan River.

Mary Cokenour