"Staging Area for Historic Trips" a Dolores Travel Page by KiKitC

We'll cut some of the confusion regarding the differences between the Hovenweep National Monument sites and the Canyons of the Ancients sites. They are scattered throughout the same valleys. They were built during the same timeframes...and "abandoned" around the same timesframes. The peoples shared similar lifestyles and farmed and hunted the same mesas.

The difference? One is a National PARK, maintained by the National Park Service and the other is managed by the Bureau of Land Management...

The Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, maintained by the Bureau of Land Management, covers 164,000 acres of southwest Colorado and has the highest known density of archeological sites, with 5,000 recorded and thousands more waiting for study. It is now known that this area was inhabited by the Puebloan people as early as 750 AD, farming and hunting these lands.

Begin your journey into the history of the Puebloan people at the Anasazi Cultural Heritage Center. Not only is it VERY informative, with interactive displays and exhibits...they also have the best maps and bochures of the Canyons of the Ancients.

I am still building these pages...please stop back for more...

We used McPhee Campground, just outside Dolores, for our staging ground for journeys to the Canyons of the Ancients, Hovenweep and Mesa Verde National Park.