HOVENWEEP NATIONAL MONUMENT — Seen from the rim, Eroded Boulder House looks like a mud-and-stone meal being devoured by a ravenous sandstone mountain lion.
Like many Ancestral Puebloan structures in the Four Corners region, it lies protected beneath an overhanging rock. Its neighbors, however, rise boldly skyward like diminutive Trump Towers.
While their cliff-dwelling neighbors at Mesa Verde, 35 miles to the south, built cities in protected alcoves, natives atop Cajon Mesa constructed towers exposed to the elements. The fact they’re still standing is testament to how well their builders built them.
The multi-story structures grace Hovenweep National Monument along the Colorado-Utah border west of Cortez. The preserve consists of six units; the main one, Square Tower, lies just across the state line in Utah. It offers a campground, hiking trails and a modern visitor center with water, flush toilets and ranger talks in season. A short stroll along a paved trail leads to the Little Ruin Canyon overlook, where ancient structures pepper rim and floor. From here, a moderate 2-mile trail circles the head of the canyon and offers close-up views of the ruins.
The site derives its name from the Square Tower Ruin, a two-story edifice rising from the canyon floor. Other towers cap the rim, some rounded and others D-shaped, square or rectangular.
The structures appear to have been used for multiple purposes. In one tower, archeologists found what appear to be ceremonial, grinding, processing, cooking and sleeping rooms. Some feature small openings near their tops, which experts speculate may have been used for observation, signaling, solar sighting, defense or maybe just ventilation.
Most of Hovenweep’s buildings date to around 1230-1275, about the same time as Mesa Verde’s. Clustered around a seeping spring, the site once housed perhaps 100 to 150 people who grew corn, beans and squash. While apparently not employing irrigation, they did build check dams to slow and capture flash-flood water.
Most visitors are content with simply exploring the Square Tower Unit, but for the intrepid traveler, Hovenweep offers five deliciously empty outlying sites to investigate. All lie off dirt roads best traversed with high-clearance vehicles. Those stuck with the family Buick can lace up hiking boots and reach three of the outliers on foot.
For hikers, the Holly Unit lies at the end of a 4-mile trail, which begins with a tight squeeze through a narrow sandstone slot. Beyond, the route opens to follow Little Ruin Canyon downstream before turning up Keeley Canyon. Blooming cactus, blossoming wildflowers and colorful collared lizards often adorn the way.
The Holly Unit consists of a collection of structures built around the canyon rim, with Holly House still sporting a pair of its original 800-year-old crossbeams. Built on a boulder, Boulder House appears to have been constructed from the inside out, one floor at a time. Tilted Tower also once stood atop a boulder, but the rock shifted, causing its upper stories to tumble.
A mile or so up the dirt road lie the Horseshoe and Hackberry units. Tower Point Ruin lies at the head of Horseshoe Canyon, perhaps built for observational or defensive purposes. Beyond lies Horseshoe House. Its apparent lack of doors suggests occupants must have dropped in Santa-like through the roof.
An 8.5-mile drive northeast from Square Tower leads to the access road for the Cutthroat Castle Unit’s two parking areas. From the upper lot, an easy 1-mile hike leads to the ruins. Those with high-clearance four-wheel drive vehicles can grind down to a parking lot immediately above the site. Unlike Hovenweep’s other ruins, the structures here were all built below the rim in a piñon and juniper forest.
Hovenweep’s sixth unit lies in the Navajo Nation in Utah, nine miles southwest of Square Tower. At mesa’s edge, it offers views stretching to Monument Valley and Black Mesa. A seeping spring once allowed folks to live and grow crops here, but today, it lies dry and deserted with only nearby oil tanks for company.
As with Mesa Verde, Hovenweep’s residents departed about the time a severe drought hit in 1276. By 1300, the sites lay deserted, exposed to the elements and the ravenous maws of sandstone mountain lions.
Dan Leeth is a travel writer/photographer; more at LookingForTheWorld.com.
If you go
Spring and fall are the best times to visit Hovenweep National Monument. Summer temperatures can hit triple digits, and winter lows can plunge below zero. Biting gnats, appropriately known as no-see-ums, can be a pest from late May through early June.
GETTING THERE
The least complicated way to reach Hovenweep is to drive 20 miles north from Cortez on U.S. 491 to Pleasant View, turn west on County Road BB, and five miles later turn southeast on County Road 10. Follow it 20 miles to the monument entrance.
ACCOMMODATIONS
Overnight lodging is available in Cortez or Dolores in Colorado, as well as Bluff and Blanding in Utah. Hovenweep offers a 30-site campground with limited spaces suitable for large rigs. No food service is available inside the monument.
OUTLYING RUINS
While Hovenweep’s outlying sites can be reached by automobile, poor road conditions may necessitate high clearance or even four-wheel-drive vehicles. The routes become nearly impassible after a rainstorm. All require short hikes to reach the actual ruins. The turnoffs are marked only with small posts bearing the image of a white bird.
VISITATION ETIQUETTE
Visitors should stay on the trails at all times, avoid touching the ruins and take only pictures, not artifacts. Leashed dogs are permitted on trails. Bikes are not. Bring water, slather on the sunscreen, wear sturdy shoes and watch for rattlesnakes.
MORE INFORMATION
Contact Hovenweep National Monument (970-562-4282, www.nps.gov/hove) for monument information. To learn more about the Ancestral Puebloan culture, stop by the BLM’s Anasazi Heritage Center (970-882-5600, www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/ahc.html) outside Dolores. For more information about the area, contact the Mesa Verde Country Visitor Information Bureau: mesaverdecountry.com or 970-565-8227.
