If you’re looking for an adventure where outdoor fun meets a rich learning environment of historical significance, then the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwestern Colorado is for you. For the past 12,000 years, the Ancestral Puebloans, the Ute and the Navajo people have roamed this majestic high desert landscape, leaving behind a wealth of artifacts. Explore its 176,000 acres of canyons and breathtaking mesas along miles of paved roads. Want a more rugged adventure? You can opt for riding ATVs or mountain biking along its gravel roads.
Start your visit with a trip to the Anasazi Heritage Center in Dolores, Colorado which serves as the headquarters for the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument. Here you’ll find up-to-date visitor information including maps and advice on travel conditions. Visitors can touch actual artifacts and discover the past with interactive exhibits, including microscopes and weaving looms, that illustrate the life of the Ancestral Puebloan indians on the Great Sage Plain. There is also a movie theater, curation library and a museum gift shop.

The Lowry Pueblo National Historic Landmark, the only developed recreational site within the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, has standing walls, 40 rooms, 8 kivas (underground chambers used by the Ancestral Puebloans for religious rites) and a Great Kiva. Tours are self guided using interpretive signs and brochures. You can even dine with the spirits of ancient puebloans in the designated picnic area.
Painted Hand Pueblo is a magnificent standing tower perched high on a boulder. Even though this site has not been excavated, the stone rubble indicates that rooms had once been built against the cliff face. This site is named after pictographs of outlined hands painted on a boulder. Other noteworthy sites in the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument include the Sand Canyon Pueblo and the Sand Canyon trail.

Bring your binoculars! Wildlife sightings of deer, elk, mountain lions, rare snakes and lizards are common throughout the year. In addition, more than 100 different species of birds, including falcons and eagles, can be observed in their natural habitat. Even though there is not a designated campground, primitive camping is allowed along marked routes within the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.
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