Rickey Hayes is a Ute Mountain Ute tribal member and the head interpretive guide at Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park near Towaoc, Colorado. The tribal park is almost double the size of nearby Mesa Verde National Park and includes dozens of archaeological sites, well-preserved cliff dwellings, pottery sherds, and art on canyon walls. The park is a tribal enterprise encompassing the entirety of Mesa Verde’s backcountry and requires visitors to travel with a Ute Mountain Ute guide
In late September, KSJD attended a tour group led by Hayes and recorded this audio postcard.
Hayes: My mom was from Ute Mountain here, but my dad is a Southern Cheyenne from Hammon, Oklahoma. But I was born here in Towaoc—Cortez, Colorado. And I've been a local here all my life.
We’re standing on an adobe wall. You can see a kiva right here. Whenever the Pueblos left (they left), this kiva still sitting on the floor. This site hasn't been excavated. So most of the surface sites went along up that way, along that dirt road, up to 60 to 80 room blocks. So if you see Taos Pueblo, Yakima, that's how they look. They still live like this, Hopis. They still do these kiva ceremonies.
You see a lot of the black stones, basalt. So this is from the San Juan Mountains. Axe heads, mallets, and a lot of stones had to be brought in: turquoise, abalone, sea shell, even cotton had to be brought in. So they were coming in from the Mississippi River, Montana, California, Mexico, people were coming 500 miles here to trade with the Pueblos. Even when they moved (near) Santa Fe, now the world still comes to see our Santa Fe Indian Market because of their pottery, their jewelry.
This one here we call Chief Jack House’s hogan site. He was born around 1888 and passed away around 1972. He was the one that proposed the (Ute Mountain Ute) Tribal Park here back around 1969 when he put 125,000 acres away. When he proposed that, a lot of tribal members didn't like that idea. They didn't want this area open up to the public. They wanted to keep it closed to just tribal members. They defaced his drawings here with a bullet, pow, (and) they burnt down his hogan that was over there.
Hayes: But this is the red paint here. See the deface. Right here, you can see grandma. See, Chief Jack’s my uncle. So they've been using this alcove for a long time, Pueblos, Utes. We still use the same paints, juniper berries, and the same trees as these Pueblos.
So these are kind of fairly modern Ute artworks. You want to find older Ute drawings, you have to go up to (the) Utah Colorado border, where you find all your drawings – archaic people. There’s drawings over 10,000 years old there.
The sound of footsteps to the cliff dwellings
So this is an original trail we’re walking on.
And this one here we call Lion House. The reason they call it Lion House is because I guess when Colorado University started excavating the sites, there was a family of mountain lions in this site here.
Hayes: So most of the wall is gone. You can see it was enclosed. Original plaster on the wall. So you can see the black on this one here, but you might notice the black and the plaster on top of it. What that black is, is they call it a primer. It’s sticky, and when they plaster the wall, that black primer helps keep the plaster on the wall. So this wall over here has been plastered nine times. And so this wood here you're looking at here is 900 years old. Last tree they cut here in Colorado was around about 1245 A.D.
They left this to remind you: you were prayed for. That’s why that handprint is up there. ‘I was here. All's well. Carry on, soldier.’ That's all he's telling you. He's having a good day. All this wood, 900-year-old wood, cut and chopped by the Pueblos themselves, still sitting here.
We got one more to go to called Eagle’s Nest. That one's got a 28-foot ladder to it.
The sounds of people climbing the ladder
Hayes: You can see this kiva and the white interior. This is the red, white interior, white, red triangles. Clan colors. Migration story: following the Blue Star.
Can you imagine the first fire when they first finished it? First fire, first water?
I'm gonna sing a song here before we head out. These elders, these ones, they like it when their children sing to them. Makes their heart feel good that they didn’t forget them, (helps them) remember why they came here. It wasn't for themselves. It was for us.
Hayes singing out into the canyon
Hayes: Be careful. Just keep praying. Even though we see these hard things, good things are coming. Beautiful things. So I just want to say that. And I'm Rickey Hayes, signing off from Towaoc, Colorado.
This piece was edited and condensed for clarity.
Copyright 2023 KSJD.
