ON TOP OF THE WORLD AT UTE MOUNTAIN TRIBAL PARK

Be prepared to climb five ladders, and walk three miles on unpaved trails if you are planning an all-day tour the promotional literature says. I think the headliner should read simply, "Prepare to be amazed."

Why?

There is so much to see, and David Wells, our guide, promised a great tour of Ute Mountain Tribal Park located on the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation.

The Tribal Park tours reveal the ways of the ancient inhabitants, while Ute Mountain Tribe customs are shared and explained.

The Ancestral Puebloans came to the Mancos Valley region about 400 A.D. settling around the mesa tops. Soon they were farming and building stone towers for shelter within the cliff faces and sandstone ledges. By 1300 A.D. they had abandoned the area and erosion soon took its toll on the ancient villages as nature reclaimed the land.

The Utes wandered into the Southwest and by

The Ute Mountain Tribal Park boasts 125,000 acres of archeological sites in a strikingly rugged landscape, which is a perfect balance for promoting the area as "primitive."

One look at Chimney Rock at the reservation entrance and David's reassurance that it would be a fine day silenced my concern about spending all day in this 'primitive' area. Tours must be led by a Ute guide is one strict requirement; the other is to ensure you have a tank full of gas since the ruins are 40 miles off the paved roads. Lots of water and a picnic lunch are recommended as there are no food outlets in the park.

David, a short, stocky man with missing front teeth and a long, jet black pontytail, is all set to interpret Ute Indian history and take us up close to view Ute pictographs, Ancestral Puebloan petroglyphs and visit cave dwellings.

Hiking boots are a good idea because there is a lot of climbing involved. Sometimes it was not too difficult to climb upwards on the rocks but the descent was oddly intimidating, especially if you change paths on the way down.

If you get up to Jackson View (named after photographer William Henry Jackson) it's an excellent vantage point for the famed Four Corners - Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.

As the tour progresses I get used to the impromptu stops, if only to clamber up towering boulders to view sometimes barely visible petroglyphs, but nevertheless fascinating because they still exist after thousands of years.

David seems genuinely happy to show us his boyhood haunts. He recalls riding up the rock face on horseback (at 13) to see exactly what he is showing us - faint outlines of crudely drawn people and animals. Sometimes he and his brother came with their father on "endurance walks" he says.

The Utes have a belief that the mountains were the work of the Great Spirit Manitou who lived by himself in the center of the sky. To overcome his loneliness he made a hole in the sky and swept all the stones and dirt through the hole. The story goes that when Manitou saw the great mountains he had created he sent snow and rain to beautify the earth. They even believe that he is responsible for their creation as well as the trees, flowers, birds and animals.

The recent 2000 Pony Fire resulted in a huge burn area at the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, but it also revealed several archeological sites including rock mounds, pottery shards and wall foundations.

The most devastating casualty was the log cabin and outbuildings belonging to Chief Jack House, the last traditional chief of the Ute Mountain Ute who died in 1971. The site now resembles a clearing that is ready for construction to begin.

I wouldn't miss the cliff dwellings in Lion Canyon for the world, even though it took some courage to go up and down the ladders over and over again. Believe me, after a couple of rungs, the feet get used to it and it becomes a piece of cake!

Besides, the view from the top is incredibly overwhelming. Even yours truly was speechless until I tried calling across the canyon only to receive an echoing reply!