Frommer's National Parks of the American West - Don Laine [270]
UTE MOUNTAIN TRIBAL PARK
If you liked Mesa Verde but would have enjoyed it more without the company of so many fellow tourists, you'll love the Ute Mountain Tribal Park, P.O. Box 109, Towaoc, CO 81334 (☎ 800/847-5485 or 970/565-3751 ext. 330; www.ute mountainute.com/tribalpark.htm). Set aside by the Ute Mountain tribe to preserve its heritage, the 125,000-acre park—which abuts Mesa Verde National Park—incorporates wall paintings and ancient petroglyphs as well as hundreds of surface sites and cliff dwellings that are similar in size and complexity to those in Mesa Verde.
Access to the park is strictly limited to guided tours. Full- and half-day tours begin at the Ute Mountain Museum and Visitor Center at the junction of U.S. 491 and U.S. 160, 20 miles south of Cortez. Mountain-biking and backpacking trips are also offered. No food, water, lodging, gasoline, or other services are available in the park. Some climbing of ladders is necessary on the full-day tour. There's one primitive campground ($12 per vehicle; reservations required).
Charges for tours in your vehicle start at $20 per person for a half day, $40 for a full day; it's $8 extra to go in
the tour guide's vehicle, and reservations are required.
ANASAZI HERITAGE CENTER
When the Dolores River was dammed and McPhee Reservoir created in 1985, some 1,600 ancient archaeological sites were threatened. Four percent of the project costs were set aside for archaeological work, and over two million artifacts and other prehistoric items were rescued. Most are on display in this museum. Located 10 miles north of Cortez, it is set into a hillside near the remains of 12th-century sites.
Operated by the Bureau of Land Management, the center emphasizes visitor involvement. Children and adults are invited to examine corn-grinding implements, a loom and other weaving materials, and a re-created pit house. You can touch artifacts 1,000 to 2,000 years old, examine samples through microscopes, use interactive computer programs, and engage in video lessons in archaeological techniques.
A half-mile trail leads from the museum to the Dominguez and Escalante Ruins, atop a low hill, with a beautiful view across the Montezuma Valley.
The center also serves as the visitor center for Canyons of the Ancients National Monument (see below). The heritage center is at 27501 Colo. 184, outside the community of Dolores (☎ 970/882-5600; www.co.blm.gov/ ahc). It's open March through October, daily from 9am to 5pm; November through February, daily from 9am to 4pm; and closed January 1, Thanksgiving, and December 25. Admission is charged March through October only; adults pay $3, and children under 18 enter free. Allow 2 hours.
CANYONS OF THE ANCIENTS NATIONAL MONUMENT
The 164,000-acre Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, west of Cortez, contains thousands of archaeological sites—what some claim is the highest density of archaeological sites in the United States—including the remains of villages, cliff dwellings, sweat lodges, and petroglyphs at least 700 years old, and possibly as much as 10,000 years old.
The monument includes Lowry Pueblo, an excavated 12th-century village 26 miles from Cortez (by way of U.S. 491), on County Road CC, 9 miles west of Pleasant View. This pueblo, which was likely abandoned by 1200, is believed to have housed about 100 people. It has standing walls from 40 rooms plus 9 kivas (circular underground ceremonial chambers). A short, self-guided interpretive trail leads past a kiva decorated with geometric designs and continues to the remains of a great kiva, which, at 54 feet in diameter, is among the largest ever found. There is also a picnic area, drinking water, and toilets.
The Bureau of Land Management manages Canyons of the Ancients, which has no visitor center or even a contact station. Those wishing to explore the monument are strongly advised to contact or, preferably, stop first