The original plan was to visit Mesa Verde NP, but it is too far from Cortez to even photograph the sign!

Instead we had an early start and made our way to the Ute Mountain Tribal Park. A bit chilly here in Cortez, at some 6,200ft, and will probably be the coldest day of our trip. We had a nice chat on the bus with Faith and Nancy who come from Sante Fe and were staying next door to us in the motel.

The Ancestral Pueblo arrived in the Mancos Valley about 500 AD and hunted and farmed, building stone dwellings with stone tools and life was good for many centuries until for no certain reason they left. By the end of the 13th century, the canyons and mesas were empty of human life, and later the Ute Weeminuche came to the valley to hunt and spend winters. Today Ute Mountain is homeland to the Weeminuche and we were hoping to visit four Pueblo canyon cliff dwellings, accessed by ladders, but the rain made the area inaccessible.

Instead we had to make do with a shorter tour. Our guide was half Ute and half Cheyenne and when he said his name was Ricky Hayes, Chris introduced himself as a long lost relative, which got a laugh from the group. Ricky told us about both the Pueblo and Ute peoples, and showed us a granary, pot shards, a solstice marker that works a bit like a sundial, various rock art and remains of a Pueblo kiva or ritual meeting room ... all in all not nearly as exciting as we had expected, or of course Mesa Verde would have been! High point was a tune on his pink recorder!





We took a quick look at Four Corners Monument, as it was quite close, and is the only place in the USA where four states meet ... Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico ... so now our tally of visited states is up to 5!



The sunset was lovely at the White Eagle Inn, then we went off for a fabulous meal at the Farm Bistro in town.

 

Breakfast was at the Silver Bean, an Airstream which was bought from a pawn shop and converted 14 years ago into a coffee shop. The girls are known locally as The Bean Girls, and we had marvellous coffee and breakfast burritos.

 

Next we are returning to Utah ...