Cortez lies in the far south-west corner of Colorado, on a high, dry plateau between the La Plata Mountains and the red rock country of Utah, and it is the gateway to some of the most important archaeological landscape in North America. Mesa Verde National Park, about ten miles east, preserves cliff dwellings built into rock alcoves by Ancestral Puebloan people in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, with stone towers, kivas and rooms stacked in sandstone overhangs. The people who lived there left around 1300, and their descendants today include the Pueblo peoples of New Mexico and Arizona.
The town takes its name from the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, though he never came anywhere near. It is a practical, friendly place, with about nine thousand people, a main street with a few murals and an Anasazi Heritage Center nearby, where displays and a partly excavated pueblo explain the story. Ute Mountain, a long sleeping-giant outline to the south-west, belongs to the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the tribal park there protects further cliff dwellings, reached on guided tours.
The Trail of the Ancients, the scenic byway that links Cortez with Blanding in Utah, runs west across the high desert, past Hovenweep National Monument, where square stone towers stand on the rim of small canyons. The road is quiet and smooth, with gentle undulations, and the landscape opens into mesas, washes and distant buttes. Beyond Blanding, the byway continues past the Valley of the Gods and Bears Ears. Weather can be extreme, with fierce summer heat and sudden cold snaps, and afternoon storms can pour rain onto dry washes, which flash flood. Keep an eye on the sky.
The Four Corners, the only spot in the United States where four states meet, lies about forty miles to the south-west, and many riders add the photo stop. Cortez has fuel, supermarkets and good Mexican and southwestern food, and its position at nearly 6,200 feet means that nights are cool even in summer. Services on the byway are sparse, so fill the tank and carry water. Spring and autumn are the best seasons.