Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
By Plane
Cortez Airport,
off US 160 and 491, southwest of town (
&
970/565-7458;
www.cityofcortez.com), is served by
Great Lakes Airlines
(
&
800/554-5111
or 970/
565-9510), with direct daily flights to Denver.
Budget
(
&
800/527-0700
or 970/564-9012) and
Hertz
(
&
800/654-3001
or
970/565-2001) provide car rentals at the airport.
VISITOR INFORMATION
Stop at the
Colorado Welcome Center at Cortez,
Cortez
City Park, 928 E. Main St. (
&
970/565-3414
), open daily from 8am to 6pm in summer
and from 8am to 5pm the rest of the year; or contact the
Mesa Verde Country Visitor
Information Bureau,
P.O. Box HH, Cortez, CO 81321 (
&
800/253-1616;
www.
mesaverdecountry.com), or the
Cortez Area Chamber of Commerce,
P.O. Box 968,
Cortez, CO 81321 (
&
970/565-3414;
www.cortezchamber.org).
FAST FACTS
The local hospital is
Southwest Memorial Hospital,
1311 N. Mildred
Rd. (
&
970/565-6666;
970/564-2025 24-hr. emergency room; www.swhealth.org).
The
post office
is at 35 S. Beech St.; contact the U.S. Postal Service (
&
800/275-8777;
www.usps.com) for hours and additional information.
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NEARBY ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
Anasazi Heritage Center
When the Dolores River was dammed and the McPhee Reservoir was created in 1985,
some 1,600 ancient archaeological sites were threatened. Four percent of the project costs
were set aside for archaeological work, and over two million artifacts and other prehis-
toric items were rescued. Most are displayed in this museum. Located 10 miles north of
Cortez, it is set into a hillside near the remains of 12th-century sites.
Operated by the Bureau of Land Management, the center emphasizes visitor involve-
ment. Children and adults are invited to examine corn-grinding implements, a loom and
other weaving materials, and a re-created pit house. You can touch artifacts 1,000 to
2,000 years old, examine samples through microscopes, use interactive computer pro-
grams, and engage in video lessons in archaeological techniques. During summer there
are lectures and other programs on Sunday afternoons.
A half-mile wheelchair-accessible trail leads from the museum to the small
Dominguez
Pueblo Ruins,
atop a low hill, with a beautiful view across the Montezuma Valley. It was
probably home to a family of four to six people and has low walls marking four rooms.
Nearby are ruins of the much larger
Escalante Pueblo
, with about 28 rooms sur-
rounding a kiva. Archeologists say that Escalante Pueblo was one of the northernmost
settlements influenced by the Chaco culture.
The center also serves as the visitor center for Canyons of the Ancients National
Monument (see below). It is located 10 miles north of Cortez at 27501 Colorado 184,
Dolores (
&
970/882-5600;
www.co.blm.gov/ahc). It's open March through October,
daily from 9am to 5pm; November through February, daily from 10am to 4pm. An
admission fee of $3 for adults is charged March through October only; admission is free
for those 17 and under. Allow 2 hours.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument
Among the country's more recent national monuments, Canyons of the Ancients was
created by presidential proclamation in June 2000. The 164,000-acre national monu-
ment contains over 6,000 archaeological sites—what some claim is the highest density of
archaeological sites in the United States—including the remains of villages, cliff dwellings,
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