Bandelier National Monument is a great place for both solitude and archaeology lovers. It protects a beautiful canyon in New Mexico and several Native American dwellings and petroglyphs.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park, located in northwest New Mexico, protects several Ancestral Puebloan great houses populated between 850 and 1250. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Aztec Ruins National Monument protects the remains of an Ancestral Puebloan Great House in New Mexico. It’s included in the UNESCO World Heritage listing for Chaco Culture National Historical Park.
Mesa Verde National Park is dedicated to the protection of over 4,000 Ancestral Puebloan archaeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings, in southwest Colorado.
Hovenweep National Monument, located in southeast Utah and southwest Colorado, protects six different groups of Ancestral Puebloan villages.
Navajo National Monument protects three hidden Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings. It’s located in northern Arizona within Navajo Nation.
Red Cliffs Recreation Area is a desert park located in southwest Utah northeast of St. George.
Pipe Spring National Monument is a fortified ranch and natural spring in the desert in northern Arizona. It’s surrounded by the Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation and the nearest city is Fredonia. We visited on our way between Kanab and St. George, both in Utah.
Grand Canyon National Park is one of the most incredible places on Earth. Imagine gazing upon a vast canyon that’s up to a mile deep and 18 miles wide.
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is a huge park surrounding Lake Powell. It covers 1,254,429 acres of mostly desert, with roughly ⅔ in Utah and ⅓ in Arizona.