Canyons of the Ancients National Monument

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After Mesa Verde National Park, I decided to check out Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, which encompasses more than 170,000 acres of high desert in southwest Colorado and whose visitor center is located in Dolores, Colorado, a few miles outside Cortez. Like Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Canyons of the Ancients is also administered and managed by the Bureau of Land Management. 

When I entered the very attractive visitor center, I was greeted by a voluble park ranger with whom I struck up a long conversation. I told him I was from Philadelphia and he said he was from Villanova originally (he said he had family from Germantown, went to Haverford School, and graduated from Radnor HS, and he was name dropping the whole time and it turns out that his grade school buddy, with whom he reconnected via Facebook, is a Philly lawyer I've had cases with). He used to be an airline pilot but decided that being a park ranger for the BLM was more interesting and fun.

After watching a short film and looking at some of the gallery exhibits, I headed outside to check out the Escalante Pueblo, which is located on the visitor center grounds and was built in the 1100s. It was a very cool place, and I am glad I added it to my list.



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