Mesa Verde - view of Fewkes Canyon

This view of Fewkes Canyon at Sun Point shows part of the Cliff House Formation of the Mesaverde Group (Late Cretaceous age). The Cliff House Formation is subdivided into a Lower Cliff House Sandstone (mostly obscured by vegetation in the lower canyon slopes) and the Upper Cliff House Sandstone that forms the upper massive cliffs along the canyon rim. Both sandstone units are about 100 feet thick. Many of the massive Ancestral Puebloan ruins found at Mesa Verde are built under large overhangs (alcoves) at the base of the Upper Cliff House Sandstone (NPS, 2006).