Canyon of the Ancients

To the right is the "Lowry" site, below is the "Painted Hand" site. These are the two accessible site in the Canyon of the Ancients National Monument. The brown slab in the Lowry photo is a protective roof. I will not provide any substantial information on these or any developed site as I would only be transcribing a NPS or BLM handout. You can find more than you want to know with a simple web search and it will be no more inaccurate than the lies I would tell. Note of caution, and this is true, I mean it, the Lowry site is easily accessible. The road to Painted Hand, however, will remove any and all things from underneath any low clearance vehicle.

These sites, and "Ancients" overall are on the great sage plain. Sage brush as far as the eye can see and them some. There are, of course, deep canyons so the ancients had a place to build their pueblos. Today there is quite a bit of farming. In fact, the area brags that it is the pinto bean capitol.

Yes there are cattle and horses and mule deer, yet the predominance of western costume I remember from the early 70s seems to be a thing of the past. If you see a cowboy hat, jeans, a large belt buckle and boots it is an older gentleman who politely says hello to you. OK, you might see these on a 16 year old girl but the ensemble is heavily modified to expose the "tats" which I imagine may have meaning. Otherwise, the population includes normal tourists in creative dress, everyday Walmartians in whatever, and a sizable number of counter-culture types probably still hiding from something they did in the 60s. It is most entertaining.