The Tribal Park is operated as a primitive area in order to protect its cultural and environmental resources. Emphasis is placed on experiencing the natural setting. Tours are ONLY permitted with a Ute Indian guide.  The tours include Ute history of the Ancestral Puebloan cultures and rock art, surface sites and cliff dwellings. A full day tour can be pre-arranged, and visits four magnificent cliff dwellings, requiring a three-mile walk on unpaved trails and scaling ladders. In order to protect the fragile resources, self-guided tours are not permitted.

Tours begin at Tribal Park headquarters located approximately 20 miles south of Cortez on Highway 666. Round-trip drive from the Visitor Center, on gravel and dirt roads, is 80 miles for the full-day trip, and 40 miles for the half-day trip. No food or water is available in the park. Tours are offered April through October and reservations are required. For up-to-date information on the park and tours, visit their website.

Recommended visitation time is one day. Do not cheat yourself by taking the 1/2 day tour — the full day tour is the only way to visit these beautifully preserved and sacred cliff dwellings.  And remember: DO NOT take any pot chards.  They hold Spirits, and to remove them from sacred ground — well, you never know what ill fate might befall you.