Ute Mountain Tribal Park

Montezuma County, Colorado

Located on the south border of Mesa Verde National Park, the 125,000-acre Ute Mountain Tribal Park was established as an historic district by the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe on May 2, 1972. Over time the Tribal Park has been home to people from many different cultures—Utes, Ancestral Pueblos, Fremont, Athabaskans, and Euroamerican ranchers and homesteaders.

The Tribal Park contains spectacular cliff dwellings, pictographs and petroglyphs, and geology—all in a more natural setting than the tourist-hardened attractions of Mesa Verde National Park. The Tribe offers half-day and longer tours guided by tribal archaeologists, who focus on Native history, and it is a major contributor to the economies of the Tribe and Montezuma County.

Photos generously provided by PaleoWest LLC