The Colorado Plateau is a rugged, rugged landscape of fiery Precambrian plateaus. This sunset-hued wonderland was once home to legendary Wild West outlaws and Native Americans, and is home to some of the Colorado Plateau's most adorable small towns. The Four Corners of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico each boast small towns brimming with history, each with their own unique cultural and natural landmarks. From Lupton, Arizona, which looks straight out of a cartoon movie, car, Like other movie-worthy destinations like Moab, Utah, these adorable small towns have something that keeps visitors coming back. These are the 7 most adorable small towns on the Colorado Plateau in 2024.
Moab, Utah
The Wild West may have been a violent time in American history, but today the Wild West town of Moab, Utah, is a charming and welcoming landmark on the Colorado Plateau. Dubbed a “masterpiece of nature,” Moab offers access to Arches and Canyonlands national parks, the latter where cowboys once corralled their wild horses. Travel along the Colorado River to see locales and landscapes often seen in iconic adventure movies. lone Ranger, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusadeand Galaxy QuestGet a better look at these natural masterpieces from an elevation of 2,000 feet at Dead Horse Point State Park, or wait until night to enjoy the pristine night sky of the Milky Way Galaxy. Most importantly, some of the caves and mountain walls in the area contain petroglyphs carved thousands of years ago by Navajo, Hopi, Pueblo and other indigenous peoples. See Moab's natural masterpieces and get a real sense of the wonder of this little corner of Utah.
Sedona, Arizona
Sedona, Arizona, is one of the most sacred places for the region's peoples. It's the gateway to many of Arizona's dynamic landscapes, including the Grand Canyon, Dead Horse Ranch State Park, Sedona Wetlands Preserve, Oak Creek Canyon, and Slide Rock. Sedona is best known for the Hisochinomu (Hopi for “ancient people”) at the Verde Valley Archaeological Center in Camp Verde, a mural that shows the life of Hopi ancestors in Sedona and the Verde Valley since 2,000 B.C. Visitors can learn more about the Hopi, Yavapai, and Apache peoples at Montezuma Castle, Well National Monument, and Tuzigoot National Monument. If you want to see Sedona's red rocks from a better vantage point, you can take a balloon tour on Arizona's West Winds.
Gallup, New Mexico
Your horseback ride may find you galloping into the adorable town of Gallup, New Mexico. Once a Navajo settlement called Nanizooj, meaning “bridge,” Gallup has connected many communities in New Mexico. After all, Gallup is ideally located along Route 66, the Mother Road, and is also halfway between Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Flagstaff, Arizona.
Visitors flock to Gallup to see contemporary murals on building walls from the Colorado Plateau and beyond. See ancestral pueblos, petroglyphs and more on Gallup's Mural and Art Walking Tour. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, you can attend Gallup's Nightly Indian Dances. Or wait until August to see Gallup's Intertribal Indian Ceremony. 70-80 percent of Native American jewelry and art comes from New Mexico, so peruse Zuni, Navajo and Hopi masterpieces at the Gallup Native Arts Market and Gallup Cultural Center.
Monticello, Utah
Monticello, Utah, is one of the highest towns on the Colorado Plateau. It sits on the eastern slope of the Abajo Mountains, rising some 7,000 feet above the Colorado Plateau. Like Moab, which is less than an hour away, visitors can enjoy the beautiful and vast scenery of Canyonlands National Park. You can also explore Manti La Sal National Forest, Lake Monticello, and Indian Creek. But the main attractions in Monticello are the Anasazi, Ancient Ones ruins, and Hovenweep National Monument. The area was inhabited by the ancestral Pueblo people from 500 BC to 1300 AD. Further evidence of indigenous and ancient cultures can be found in Bears Ears National Monument. The park is named after two towering hills that look a lot like bear ears. You might also like Newspaper Rock, a large black sandstone slab at Indian Creek. Large petroglyphs were carved into the rock by the ancient Archaic, Fremont and Ute peoples.
Durango, Colorado
Durango, Colorado is one of the oldest towns in Colorado. The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad founded the town in 1881 to mine coal and other minerals from the nearby historic town of Silverton. The 13,000-foot-deep veins of Mount Galena are filled with old mines and caves, and Durango's proximity to the San Juan National Forest and San Juan Mountains make it a thriving and prosperous community. Durango is home to Mesa Verde National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, boasting the most unpolluted and darkest night sky in the United States, where you can see the star-filled arch of the Milky Way. It also contains numerous ruins of cave dwellings from ancient Pueblo peoples. To escape the heat of the Colorado Plateau, you can splash around in the Animas River, Nighthorse Lake, or Lake Haviland.
Lupton, Arizona
There's nothing more adorable than a town that's reminiscent of a famous animated movie, and in the case of Lupton, Arizona, it's reminiscent of a Pixar film. car Lupton, the setting of the movie, has been a stopover for Route 66 travelers due to its remote atmosphere between New Mexico and Arizona. Although only a dozen people live in Lupton today, the Navajo people once called it Tsedidjooli (round rock) or Tesesiani (sinking rock). Even earlier, Lupton was an important starting point for military operations and supply routes to Fort Sumner in New Mexico. However, today, Lupton welcomes all weary adventurers with its tall sandstone cliffs of Painted Cliffs. It's a small town, but a charming one that will make you feel like Lightning McQueen from the movie “Lightning McQueen.” car, Soon, he was captivated by the town's quiet, simple atmosphere.
Holbrook, Arizona
In the Painted Desert, a beautiful striped badland that stretches from the Navajo settlement to the Grand Canyon, you'll reach the stately town of Holbrook, Arizona, where you can admire the Navajo's spectacular Chinle Formation, dating back 200 million years. Travel to Petrified Forest National Park to see Native American petroglyphs, 100 buildings, and the 8-room pueblo building called the Agate House at Puerco Pueblo, all made from petrified wood, which is why Petrified Forest National Park is named after it.
History buffs can explore the Homolobi Ruins, Window Rock and Canyon de Chelly to learn more about Native American culture and the modern landscape, while those looking for a taste of the Wild West can head to the Bucket of Blood Saloon and Blevins House, the site of a famous shootout between Sheriff Commodore Perry Owens and the Blevins Gang.
Besides being an attraction in itself, the Colorado Plateau is surrounded by other landforms that are iconic to the American land. To the north and east are the Rocky Mountains, to the west is the Great Basin Desert, and to the south is the old Sonoran Desert. These landmarks gave birth to many gunfighters who paved the way to the Wild West and immortality. But today, the Colorado Plateau is famous for its many adorable small towns, close to the ferocious and untamed territories where cowboys and Native Americans once walked. Whether you admire the rock formations and petroglyphs of Holbrook, Arizona, or venture into the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Durango, Colorado, you are sure to be enchanted and enthralled by the sunset-colored atmosphere of the Colorado Plateau.
