A ladder into a 1,000-year-old kiva in Blanding

The way into the kiva at Edge of the Cedars is a ladder. You climb down it, and at the bottom you are inside a kiva that is 1,000 years old. The Utah State Parks description of the place invites you to visit the pueblo and climb down a ladder to enter the kiva.

The museum is in Blanding at 660 West 400 North, and it sits next to Edge of the Cedars Pueblo. The pueblo was a village inhabited by the ancestors of contemporary Pueblo peoples from AD 825 to 1225. The ruin is part of the visit, not a backdrop to it. A short, paved interpretive trail goes around the ruin.

The park facilities also include landscaping with native plants and outdoor sculptures. There is also a picnic area, which is a sensible thing to have at a place where the main activities are walking, looking, and climbing down a ladder. Restrooms are listed among the park amenities too.

Inside, the museum shows one of the largest collections of Ancestral Pueblo pottery on exhibit in the Four Corners area. The exhibits cover art and archaeology, and the park runs programs for adults and for children. There is a Jr. Ranger activity, a visitor center, a park gallery, and a gift shop. The park page lists its activities as archaeology site, heritage area, Jr. Ranger, and museum, and it offers a downloadable park brochure. The museum director is Chris Hanson, who is also the park manager.

The museum is not only about the past. Its stated goal is to inspire and educate visitors about the prehistoric and contemporary American Indian cultures of the Four Corners region. The village dates to AD 825 to 1225, and the museum's stated goal reaches contemporary American Indian cultures as well.

If you are making a day of Blanding, the Utah Division of Arts & Museums directory lists three other museums within 1.21 miles: the Nations of the Four Corners Cultural Center, the Blanding Pioneer Museum, and The Dinosaur Museum.

Start at the ruin. Walk the paved trail around it, then go to the kiva and take the ladder down.