Ute Indian Prayer Trees of the Pikes Peak Region

Book excerpt: Ute Indian Prayer Trees of the Pikes Peak Region is a book about Culturally Modified Trees, skillfully shaped by the hands of the indigenous people of Colorado, which can still be found today in the Pikes Peak Region. John Wesley Anderson shares the beginning of his journey into the past which led him across the ancestral homeland of the Ute to seek an understanding of these living Native American cultural artifacts. John shares the wisdom of the elders from the Reservations who believe at the beginning of time Creator brought them to the Shining Mountains. The Ute knew Pikes Peak by the name Tava, which means Sun Mountain. This is a story about the People of Sun Mountain and their sacred prayer trees.