Ute Mountain

Ute Mountain is a peak within the Ute Mountains in the southwestern corner of Colorado. Its on the northern edge of the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation. The Reservation forms the southwestern corner of the state and Montezuma County.

Ute Mountain is also called Sleeping Ute Mountain on some maps. The range is also sometimes called Sleeping Ute Mountains. Both forms of the mountain's name and of the range's name can be found on various USGS maps, databases and reports. Ute Mountain and its twin peak, Black Mountain are less prominent than Ute Peak within the range.

The Ute Mountains, with a collective profile commonly known as “The Sleeping Ute”, are a dense cluster of peaks approximately 5 miles by 12 miles in extent and stand in isolation from other mountains. The Sleeping Ute is said to resemble a Ute Chief lying on his back with arms folded across his chest. The mountains were valued as a sacred place by the Weeminuche Ute band. It is still a sacred place to their descendants, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and still plays a role in their ceremonies as indicated by the “Sundance Ground” on some topographical maps nestled between The Knees and Horse Peak (ribcage).

Originally, the northern part of the mountains were outside of the reservation boundaries as reduced following a series of treaties in the late 1800s, but a trade of land now in Mesa Verde National Park, approximately 15 miles east, for federal land on the mountain, allowed the reservation boundary to be extended north to McElmo Creek and encompass the entire mountain range. Few roads or trails are found in the mountains, although radio towers and water tanks have been built, and a road along Cottonwood Wash from Towaoc nearly reaches the summit of Ute Peak.

Legend

A Ute Indian legend (1) describes the Sleeping Ute as the sleeping form of a “Great Warrior God” who fell asleep while recovering from wounds received in a great battle with “the Evil Ones”. Various other forms of the legend can be found.

Visual Profile

The Sleeping Ute Mountains viewed from ~20 miles east northeast.

Readily recognized from many spots up to 50 miles east or west, the profile is best seen from 15-25 miles somewhat north of east of the mountains as in the accompanying photograph.

Easily identified features of the profile include the following (north to south):

Head - the profile of Marble Mountain provides readily recognized facial features while a feathered headdress can be seen tapering north from Black Mountain and Marble Mountain..

Crossed Arms – Ute Peak (9978 ft, 3041 m) is the highest, the most prominent and eastern-most peak in the Ute Mountains

Ribcage – Horse Mountain to the east and the twin peaks Black Mountain/Ute Mountain to the west form a recognizable ribcage.

Knees – Hermano Mountain or “The Knees” are obviously the knees of the figure.

Toes – East Toe is a relatively small, sharp and prominent igneous protrusion at the south-eastern end of the Ute Mountains proportioned and perfectly placed to complete the figure from the east. Astonishingly, West Toe, a second protrusion, has a very similar profile and is perfectly placed to complete the figure from the west.

The illusion of a reclining figure is further reinforced by it's symmetry. The figure is nearly as complete seen from the west as from the east.

Region

Ute Mountain (U), just west of Cortez, Colorado (red dot) and Mesa Verde National Park (MV), and separated from Canyons of the Ancients National Monument (CA) to the north by McElmo Creek.

Though on the southwestern fringe of the original Rocky Mountain home of the Ute Tribe, The Sleeping Ute is the most prominent feature of the high-desert Ute Mountain Ute reservation.

The only town on the Reservation, Towaoc, lies at the feet of the figure and is home to most of the Reservation's population. As the Reservation capital, Towaoc is the Ute Mountain Ute tribal headquarters.

Cortez, the largest town in the area at 8000+ population, lies outside the reservation 11.5 miles east-northeast of Ute Peak. The altitude of Cortez is 6200 ft (1890 m) and can be considered the base altitude of the Ute Mountains.

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park adjoins Mesa Verde National Park to the east of the mountain's. The western boundary of Mesa Verde National Park is 12 miles east of Ute Peak. The Mesa and The Sleeping Ute share equal prominence as regional landmarks.

McElmo Creek and Canyon Of The Ancients National Monument form the northern terminus of the Ute Mountains and the Reservation.

Geology

The Ute Mountains were formed by doming and subsequent erosion about Late Cretaceous igneous rocks, intruded at about 72 million years. The most common type of igneous rock is porphyritic hornblende diorite, but rock types present range from gabbro to granite. Forms of intrusions include laccoliths, stocks, dikes, and sills. The igneous rocks intrude a sedimentary section of Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks. One dike extends north to McElmo Creek and can be examined at a roadside there.

The intrusions are similar in form and rock type to those in other Colorado Plateau mountain ranges, such as the Henry Mountains and the La Sal Range and the Abajo Mountains, all nearby in Utah, but the intrusions at these three Utah occurrences are about 20 to 30 million years in age. The Ute Mountains lie within an extension of the Colorado Mineral Belt, but no ore deposits are known to be associated with these igneous rocks.

Sedimentary units (older to younger) include the following formations of Jurassic age -- Navajo Sandstone, Entrada Sandstone, Summerville Formation (sandstone) and Bluff Sandstone (formerly called the Junction Creek Sandstone), and Morrison Formation -- and of Cretaceous age -- Burro Canyon Formation (sandstone), Mancos Shale, Dakota Sandstone, and Point Lookout Sandstone (the oldest member of the Mesa Verde Group).

In some areas the soft lower unit of the Entrada weathers into characteristic rounded forms, commonly called hoodoos. The underlying Navajo weathers into rough, rounded surfaces, commonly pitted, and usually forms cliffs.

References and external links

• Topozone version of Battle Rock (Co) quad, 1979
• Ute Mountain Ute telling of the Legend of the Sleeping Ute
• W. P. Pratt, J. H. Irwin (USGS) and W. C. Henkes (US Bureau of Mines), STATUS OF MINERAL RESOURCE INFORMATION FOR THE UTE MOUNTAIN INDIAN RESERVATION, COLORADO AND NEW MEXICO (Administrative report BIA-17, 1976)
• USGS Battle Rock quad map within Colorado, 1979.