Three Kiva Pueblo in Montezuma Canyon

Three Kiva Pueblo is a remote Ancestral Pueblo site along the rugged Montezuma Creek Road between Monticello and Blanding in southeast Utah.


The challenge of this site is finding it. Montezuma Creek Road, C-146, is five miles south of the Visitor Info Center in Monticello, Utah off of Route 191, but is not marked. The road is gravel to start out and descends steeply into Montezuma Canyon.

The canyon floor at the north end is mostly privately owned and there are some irrigated hay operations and a few private homes. It is 27 miles along this road to Three Kiva while the road gradually becomes narrower, loses the gravel and is rougher.

The site is small and isolated. There are many other Ancestral Pueblo sites in Montezuma Canyon but they are on private land and not accessible. Some of these sites are visible from the road, particularly in the three miles north of the Three Kiva site. This site is thought to have 14 rooms, three kivas, and a few other features including a possible turkey run.

The highlight of this site is that one of the kivas has been reconstructed and visitors can climb down the ladder through the roof and sit inside the subterranean ceremonial structure. This was welcome on a 95  F. degree day as it was cool and shady below. (In June 2011 I noticed that the ladder is missing.)

The low ceiling made the bench useless. I suppose there is some height missing here. All the features of the Kiva were otherwise in place. Another reconstructed Kiva in the region is the Great Kiva at Aztec Ruins in northwest New Mexico. Other reconstructed kivas that can be entered are at Edge of the Cedars in Blanding, Utah and Spruce Tree House at Mesa Verde National Park.

The other feature that I wonder about is that the roof entrance is also the chimney for letting smoke from the fire escape. Hold your breath when entering and make sure no one stokes the fire just as you descend over it.

The environmental setting here is mostly dry Sagebrush on the canyon floor with Pinon Pine and Juniper on the canyon sides. The creek supports a lush growth of Cottonwood Trees so it must be a good source of water. The canyon floor is wide enough for extensive farming.

Continuing south on the rugged road, it is seven miles until a better gravel road is reached, then nine miles to the paved roads at the Hatch Trading Post area. Keep an eye out for rock art on the west side cliffs a few miles south of Three Kiva. If traveling to Three Kiva Pueblo from the south, the right turn onto C-146 is easy to miss.