Story: Canyon of the Ancients National Monument

Canyon of The Ancients National Monument is 165,000 acres of high desert near Cortez, Colorado. Located in the Four Corners region, this area has the highest density of archaeological sites in the U.S. with more than 6,000 identified sites.

Sand Canyon, located in the southeastern part of the national monument, is an arid place with only sparse amounts of water in pockets here and there. However, the effects of water coursing through this canyon are visible everywhere. The red sandstone has been carved away over time, to create a maze of side canyons. The mesa’s are hundreds of feet higher than the trail through the main canyon below.

The desert is in bloom during my hike in May. Claretcup and Pricklepear Cactus with their bright flowers; subtle whites and yellows of flowers and plants that I am not familiar with. The scent of Juniper and Pinion waft in the air, but sprigs of sagebrush when picked and rubbed between fingers are mesmerizing. The smell is sweet and lightly musky.

After a mile of hiking north on Sand Canyon Trail, I come across the first of the dozens of Anasazi cliff dwelling ruins that I see during the day. Upon close inspection, I realize that these dwellings were not just mud and stone thrown together. Indeed patterns emerge with smaller stones of similar size and shape carefully placed between layers of larger rock. It is amazing that these relics are still partially intact, as they were last inhabited in the 13th century.

Unlike nearby Mesa Verde, this national monument is so new that very little has been done to develop or protect it. You can walk right into the ruins! But be careful not to damage the delicate artifacts at your feet. In more than one site I come across pottery shards painted in intricate patterns, whispers of the lives that created them.

It’s a humbling feeling to look out from a ruin across the canyons and valleys to Sleeping Ute Mountain, its flanks clothed in green, and gaze at what the former residents must have seen. I imagine what it must have been like to live such an existence. The land in its majesty providing all that they needed to thrive.

Sand Canyon Pueblo is at the north end of the six-mile long trail. Even though no standing walls are exposed, there are over 400 rooms, 14 towers and 100 kivas in the pueblo. Walking through the ruins and dry stream beds, pottery shards scattered about, it is easy for me to imagine the community that once lived here.

The desert is not only in bloom but it is alive with the sound of birds, the scurrying of lizards and the mooing of small herds of cattle that roam the lowest canyon areas, where there is enough water and grass to sustain them.

The lizards are curious. As I sit on a log, one or two completely circle around me, careful to stay at a safe distance. Some are shades of gray and black, but some are the most dazzling turquoise with yellow feet, faces and stripes along their back and white dots all over. One is not camera shy, posing for nearly ten minutes on rocks and logs, seeming to study me as much as I study it.

As I near the end of my hike, having returned to the south trailhead by a side canyon, I am startled to see dozens of rock sculptures! It appears that some enterprising hikers have stacked rocks in amazing patterns and shapes. I can’t help but laugh, thinking of the fun the sculptors must have had!

At days-end to stand there and just see, hear and smell, what a privilege!

(Sand Canyon Trail is about 12 miles west of Cortez, CO. and can be accessed on the south from McElmo Canyon Road and on the north from Road N. At the time of my visit there were no facilities, so bring lots of water and a good pair of hiking boots.)

(The Anasazi Heritage Center, located in nearby Dolores, is a great place to learn more about the Anasazi culture and pick up maps of the national monument. Visits to Lowry Pueblo and Painted Hand Pueblo round out the Canyon of The Ancients National Monument. Nearby Hovenweep National Monument and Mese Verde National Park are the crown jewels in this Anasazi cultural experience.)