The best cycling routes in Montezuma County

Kennebec Pass sits at 11,700 feet and opens to sweeping views of the La Plata Mountains and the San Juans. Reaching it requires a long drive on a rugged Forest Service road, passable only by high-clearance vehicles, or can be accessed by the Colorado Trail.

The Far View Sites Complex in Mesa Verde National Park was among the most densely populated areas on the mesa between A.D. 900 and 1300. Nearly 50 villages have been identified within a half-square-mile area, housing hundreds of people. Today, visitors can walk an easy, flat, self-guided trail to explore several excavated and stabilized sites linked by a short walking trail, including Far View House, Pipe Shrine House, Coyote Village, Far View Reservoir, Megalithic House, and Far View Tower. Notably, the Ancestral Pueblo people inhabited Far View at least 200 years before constructing the more famous cliff dwellings. Excavations also reveal that many residents chose to remain in their mesa-top community even after neighbors moved into cliff alcoves.

Formed millions of years ago by ancient uplifts and erosive forces, the ridge stands as a majestic natural barrier between Prater and Morefield Canyons. Unique geological formations like the "knife edge" section offer breathtaking panoramic views of the surrounding valleys and mountains.

From here, you can see the House of Many Windows, which is a small dwelling that was built into a precarious slot on a cliff ledge barely ten feet wide in Cliff Canyon. It has doorways that look like windows that give you entry into a house that has 15 rooms, and it is thought there was also a kiva. The views of Cliff Canyon from here are also superb.

Precariously perched on a remote cliff in Soda Canyon, Hemenway House looks like it's ready to fall off the small ledge on which it rests on the other side of the valley. Built in the 1200s, this cliff dwelling has 26 rooms and one kiva and was part of the larger Balcony House community. Hemenway House was named after Mary Tileston Hemenway, who funded the first scientific archeological expedition in the southwest. This is a beautiful vantage point with grand views up and down Soda Canyon.

This is another incredible Mesa Verde National Park bike ride. The Cliff Palace Loop Road is a 6-mile (10-km) drive with amazing overlooks of various cliff dwellings. The stops and overlooks along this road include: Cliff Palace Overlook, Cliff Canyon Overlook, House of Many Windows Overlook, Hemenway House Overlook, and the Balcony House Parking Area. The views along the way and the places to visit, if you have time on your hands, are amazing.

This plateau in Mesa Verde National Park, which sits at an altitude of more than 2,600 meters, hosts the spectacular Pueblo Indian cliff dwellings. With at least 150 rooms and 21 kivas, Cliff Palace is an exceptionally large and impressive cliff dwelling. This remarkably rich landscape provides a remarkable archaeological laboratory for enhancing our understanding of the ancestral Pueblo people. It is an amazing location, and there are rest rooms there. It makes for an amazing stop, but if you want to go and see the dwellings, you will need some bike security. Failing that, it is a good spot to park to cycle the Mesa Top Loop Road.

A narrow path leads through pine forest, open meadows and all the way along bubbling Hermosa Creek. The water is crystal-clear and once filtered a good option to fill your water bottles.