Dear Friends and Family,

Cortez, Colorado is a hub for many National parks worth a visit.  Last summer we visited Mesa Verde but this time through this part of Colorado, we decided to finish visiting the other interesting parks. We have never taken the time to visit the Canyons of the Ancients run by the Bureau of Land Management. This National Monument has their headquarters at the Anasazi Heritage Center in Dolores.  Just above the center is a fairly preserved site called Escalantes pueblo which is much older than Mesa Verde.  There are also great views over a reservoir and the snow capped San Juan mountains.  We were lucky to see a very hairy tarantula spider with a purpose headed up the path with no concern for us. After a very informative visit to the Center, we headed out on dirt roads in the jeep for two sites, Lowry Pueblo and Painted Hand Pueblo. Loiwry Pueblo has stabilized walls and originally had 40 rooms, eight kivas, and a Great Kiva . This site was also deserted and it was fun for us to be the only ones trying to envision the lives of the ancients.  Painted Hand Pueblo was a little more of a challenge to get to.  Because of the storms the previous days, the road was very rough and muddy.  We got as close to the tower we could.  When we later went to the ranger station, we learned that the road was considered  impassible.  Thank goodness for our jeep, because we were again all alone at the site.

Next to Canyons of the Ancients is Hovenweep National Monument. There you can see several towers which line a canyon.  There are twin towers plus square and round towers. Since it was late in the day, we did not have time to hike to these structures but viewing them was great.

The special feature of the Canyons of the Ancients is that not many prople know about the sites and you have to hike to many of them which is what we did the next day in Cortez area.  We hiked into some lovely rock formations at Sand Canyon & Rock Creek Trail at the southern part of the Canyons of the Ancients . A square tower called the Saddle Horn, because of the rock formation above the structure, was our goal. We were glad it was not a hot day as the hike was uphill on rocks. We reached the Sand Canyon and tallied up six miles doing the hike.

The remoteness of both National Monuments really made our visits there very special.  We hope you consider a visit yourselves sometime.  Our next destination is Southeast Utah to visit Monument Valley.  With fond memories we leave Colorado, a state so rich in natural resources and history. You really must make it to this state .

Until our next post, remember to be good to yourselves.

Cheers,

Susan and Jim