Established by Congress A.D. 1906 June 29 this National Park protects a concentration of ruins created by the Anaszi people. The buildings were created from about A.D. 750 to 1300 and then abandoned. They were not rediscovered until the 1880’s and soon after people started excavating them.
Due to the wholesale looting going on the area had to be made a national park to save the site. Thanks to the efforts of Virginia McClurg to save it the area remains one of the most impressive places in the southwest, though I think that Chaco Canyon is a more impressive and slightly less overrun with tourist spot. Though all the large ruin sites are very touristy. My advice is to avoid them and go for the less visited natural wonders with smaller ruins, like Canyon De Chelly National Monument in northeast Arizona.
It is the second of Colorado’s National parks along with Rocky Mountain National Park and Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. It is located in the far south west corner of the state.