Sacred Places: Sleeping Ute Mountain, Ute Reservation, Colorado

Some Native tribes defined their home and hunting ranges in terms of landmarks that had sacred significance.  For the Utes, a major landmark of their homeland is a range of mountains in what is now Montezuma County, Colorado known collectively as Sleeping Ute Mountain.  This mountain is actually a small range of peaks which collectively take the profile of a sleeping warrior or chief, from a headdress of feathers down to the toes of his moccasins.

According to legend, a great warrior, possibly of divine origin, laid down to recover from wounds obtained in a battle and fell asleep.  The profile runs on the north-south axis and begins with Marble Mountain, the facial profile and headdress, Black Mountain.  Ute Peak forms the warrior's arms folded over the chest.  This peak is one of the more easily recognizable mountains in the State of Colorado.  Horse Mountain forms the ribcage.  Hermano Mountain is the knees, with two smaller peaks forming the toes.  The figure can be discerned looking both east and west, with Ute Peak visible from the Four Corners.  Tradition states that ceremonies were held in a valley in between the knees and the ribcage.  Towoac, the main city and headquarters of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Reservation, lies near the feet of the figure. 

Incidentally, looking at an aerial shot of the mountain range, such as Google Earth reveals that the body of a sleeping Native warrior is also discernable from above. 

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