Trail of The Ancients
Length: 116 miles (480 miles CO/UT total)
Driving time: 3 hours
The Anasazi—the "Ancient Ones" to the later Navajo—guarded their secrets closely. We know they dominated the Colorado Plateau for hundreds of years, yet basic questions about them - who they were, how they lived, what they believed - remain less than fully resolved. This 114-mile route across the broken, arid terrain of their former civilization is heavily laden with clues: cliff dwellings, rock art, pottery shards. Hovenweep National Monument and Mesa Verde National Park both contain dense clusters of Anasazi remains, and the Anasazi Heritage Center in Dolores offers background and interpretive information. One branch of the byway leads to the Four Corners Area, connecting Utah's Trail of the Ancients byway.
Trail of the Ancients was designated by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation as a National Scenic Byway in 2005. It is one of 13 America's Byways® designated in Colorado.
Trail of the Ancients Photo Tour
Awards
Trail of the Ancients won a National Scenic Byway Foundation's 2020 Public-Private Partnership Award for the McElmo Creek Flume Restoration. Read more about this award and project online at coloradopreservation.org/programs/endangered-places/mcelmo-creek-flume.
Features
- Anasazi Heritage Center
- Canyons of the Ancients National Monument
- Exploring Trail Of The Ancients Scenic And Historic Byway Article Nov. 2019
- Geotourism MapGuide
- Hovenweep National Monument
- Mesa Verde National Park
- Trail of the Ancients, Utah
- Trail of the Ancients Itinerary
- Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park
- Yucca House National Monument
Local Chamber(s) of Commerce
Byways Corridor Management
- Trail of the Ancients Corridor Management Plan 2009 Update
- Trail of the Ancients Framework for Wayshowing
Special Considerations
- Muddy when wet
- Some gravel surfaces
