Mancos Canyon

Ruins in Lion Canyon

Last week, I was a chaperon on a three-day camping trip with 85 8th graders from Escalante Middle School.  And yes, I actually volunteered for this trip! Why, you may ask??? Because it was an opportunity to camp and hike in an area that is not open to the general public - the Ute Mountain Tribal Park. Plus, my son was one of the 8th graders. We got to camp and hike in Mancos Canyon, which is located south of Mesa Verde National Park and on the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation.  

To camp and hike in Mancos Canyon, you must have permission and get a permit from the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and have a tribal guide with you on any hikes.  If you are caught without permission, a permit or a guide, you will be arrested by Tribal Police and end up in Tribal Jail, where you will be subject to prosecution under Tribal Law by Tribal Courts - essentially the same thing as being arrested in a foreign country.  In other words, be smart and don't go on Ute Tribal Land (or any other reservation land) without permission.

More ruins in Lion Canyon

Directions: From Historic Downtown Durango (Main Ave. & College Ave.), travel west on College for two blocks to the intersection with Camino Del Rio, turn left heading south for one block and veer right onto US Highway 160 going across the bridge over the Animas River.  You stay on US 160 and travel through Hesperus, Mancos and Cortez, CO.  On the west side of Cortez, US 160 combines with US Highway 491 and heads south out of Cortez.  You are getting close when you pass the Ute Mountain Casino.  The entrance to Mancos Canyon is the dirt road (Mancos Canyon Road) on the left (east side) of the intersection where 160 and 491 separate. US 160 goes on to the Four Corners National Monument and 491 (former Route 666 fka "Devil's Highway") heads into Shiprock, NM.

Vulture riding the thermals above Lion Canyon

On the first day of the trip, we hiked into Lion Canyon, including climbing down a number of steep ladders, and were able to get up close with a number of Ancestral Puebloan ruins along with petrogylphs and other rock engravings, including one by Richard Wetherill who discovered these ruins and the ones in Mesa Verde. The end of the hike included a climb up a 30-foot ladder into a ruin called Eagle's Nest, because an eagle had built a nest on a rock outcrop just above the ruins.

The next day was spent traveling up and down Mancos Canyon Road doing short hikes to observe petroglyphs and unexcavated and undisturbed kivas.  

Eagle's Nest

Some of the petroglyphs depicted the Ancestral Puebloan creation and emergence stories. In most of these areas, we could walk around and pick up pottery shards that date back to between 1 - 6 A.D. I even found an ancient cutting tool and another person found ancient beads. While you can pick up and enjoy these items, you are not allowed to take them with you.  The Ute guides we had on both days were wonderful, friendly and very knowledgeable about the ruins as well as local flora used for various medicinal purposes. 

We also saw numerous types

Petroglyphs in Mancos Canyon

of lizards, wild horses and rattle snakes.  This trip helped me to truly appreciate the ancient history of southwest Colorado coming to understand that this area has been inhabited for more than 2000 years.

Lizard in Lion Canyon

View of Mancos Canyon

One of our Ute guides performing a blessing.