Mesa Verde Country

Mesa Verde Country. . Clockwise, from top left: , Six ancestral Puebloan villages dating to around A.D. 1200 can be visited at Hovenweep National Monument although only Square Tower Sites are easily reached. The other sites are more remote and are not accessible by car., Formed in 1984 Crow Canyon Archaeological Center offers visitors an to assist professional scientists through an innovative program of 'Hands on' archaeology., The Trail of the Ancients Scenic and Historic Byway runs through land once inhabited by the ancestral Puebloan peoples. The 114-mile route across arid terrain is laden with clues of this former civilization., Before the Dolores River was dammed to create the McPhee Reservoir, archaeologists worked for eight years to record the places and artifacts that would be lost under water. Many of the artifacts are on display at the Anasazi Heritage Center near Dolores., The San Juan Skyway Scenic and Historic Byway tours the magnificent San Juan Mountains, scene of a bustling silver rush in the 1880's. Along the route are the National Historic Districts, Mesa Verde National Park and national forests., The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, a restored nineteenth century narrow-gauge train, steams through the beautiful scenery of the San Juan Mountains., The Southern Ute Cultural Center is a gallery and museum in Ignacio featuring the history, art and the culture of the Southern Ute people., Covering 125,000 acres and centered along 20 miles along the Mancos River, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park preserves numerous ancestral Puebloan sites. Visitors, who must be accompanied by Ute Mountain guides, are able to explore those seldom-seen treasures., In the heart of downtown Cortez, the Cortez Cultural Center contains ancestral Pucbloan artifacts, turn of the century Ute bead work, and hands-on exhibits. The center also presents Native American dances during the summer. The Center is open year round, The cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde National Park has long been a source of wander and amazement. The park is opened year round, but several sites are closed during the winter.