Trip Highlights

Day 1 Travel to Cortez, CO. Hotel spa and pool... Day 2 Visit Mesa Verde National Park. Arrive Ute Mountain Tribal Park... Day 3 Ute Guide for 3 mile hike to Lion Canyon ruins... Day 4 Depart for Chaco Canyon. Visiti Aztec Ruins... Day 5 Hike 5.5 mile loop to Pueblo Bonito and Casa Rinconada... Day 6 6.4 miles hiking through Chaco Wash to the Penasco Blanco Ruin and the Supernova pictograph... Day 7 Return to Coprtez with visit of Anasazi Heritage Center and 1/2 mile hike. Celebration dinner... Day 8 Departure from Cortez

Accommodations: 2 nights lodging, 5 nights camping

Ancient Anasazi Ruins Of The Four Corners Area

Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, Ute Mountain Tribal Park

Our Anasazi odyssey begins in Cortez, Colorado and we'll start with a visit to Mesa Verde, perhaps the best-known ruins in the southwest, where for over 700 years Mesa Verde people flourished. They built elaborate stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls.

Then we'll travel to the Ute reservation and our first camp will be along the Mancos River in Ute Mountain Tribal Park. With our Ute guide, we'll hike "the other Mesa Verde". These ruins are much as they were when they were discovered in 1914, but without crowds found in Mesa Verde.

Our week continues in Chaco Canyon, discovered by air by Charles Lindbergh 73 years ago. It has been designated as one of ten World Heritage sites. Our hikes will take us to huge ruin complexes and sites of archeo-astronomy. The masonry work found here is the finest in the entire Southwest. Over 70 outlying communities were connected by a system of "roads" to Chaco and we will visit one of them, Aztec Ruins.

The Southwest scenery is especially lovely at this time of year. Temperatures are usually in the 70s and 80s. Blue skies and the changing colors of the cottonwood trees contrast with dramatic redrock formations.

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• Activity:
  Hiking Light
• Date: Not offered this year
• Rating: Easy to Moderate
• Cost:
• Deposit:

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