Cutthroat Upper Trailhead, Hovenweep National Monument - Hiking and walking trailheads on Waymarking.com

Added to Hovenweep National Monument in 1956, this collection of ruins has features unique from other groups scattered throughout the Canyon of the Ancients. The Canyon of the Ancients is an area of southwestern Colorado and southeast Utah, which includes a high concentration of ancestral Puebloan ruins. This area had a high population density, and "villages" such as this group date from around 400 AD through 1300 AD, when the area quickly and mysteriously was abandoned on a grand scale.

To access this group of ruins, high clearance four wheel drive is required. This site is not easy to find on a map...from 491 outside of Cortez, take County Road BB and travel 6 miles to County Road 10. Turn south and go 11.3 miles. Turn left onto a rocky, dirt road for about one mile. The trail to the Painted Hand Pueblo will be on your left. Continue on just a sort way, and the trail becomes more difficult.

Here, at the trailhead, the hiking trail splits from the 4 wheel drive trail. The hike is just .8 miles to the ruins, each way. It is across sandy, rocky soil, but a path has been beaten and cleared relatively well. A small amount of parking is available at this spot.

Unlike other ruins in Hovenweep National Monument, this group is not situated at the head of a canyon, but further downstream. This would not only make protecting the village more difficult, but also defending valuable natural springs. One theory as to why the area was abandoned centralizes around the idea that a massive drought caused the population to move on.

Another unique feature of the Cutthroat Castle group is an above-ground kiva, built atop a boulder. The kiva was a ceremonial area that connected its people with other worlds. Kivas were usually built below ground, signifying the underworld, and access to the kiva was from the roof, symbolizing the above world. In this group's case, the kiva is built atop a boulder, and access was granted from below through a slit in the boulder. Another distinguising featured was that this kiva was also surrounded by another room, unlike it's freestanding cousins throughout the canyon.

All the materials needed to support a population can be found by this seemingly remote area. Juniper and pinion trees offered building materials, food source, fire wood and even clothing materials. Quartz pebbles from the stream bed were cut into razor-like blades and tools for building, domestic duties and hunting.

Trailhead/trail website: [Web Link] Trail allowances or restrictions: No bikes and dogs must be leashed on the Upper Trailhead. The Lower Trailhead is open to high clearance 4 wheel drive vehicles. Trail type: Dirt Parking: Not Listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   01/08/2016 BFin visited it 09/19/2008 94RedRover visited it

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