Trail of the Ancients - Hovenweep National Monument
Posted by: 
94RedRover
N 37° 19.595 W 108° 59.468
12S E 677983 N 4132994
Hovenweep National Monument was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. The "Monument" is actually a collection of ancestral ruin sites scattered in the southeast Utah and southwest Colorado region.
Waymark Code: WM6HVM
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 06/07/2009
Views: 7
Stop 3 on Day 2 of the Trail of the Ancients National Scenic Byway stops at Hovenwepp National Monument.
"Hovenweep" is a Ute/Paiute word meaning "deserted valley." It was given this name by William Henry Jackson, a photographer who visited this area in 1874...aptly describing these sites.
Hovenweep National Monument consists of the ruins of six prehistoric "villages" spread out over 20 miles in the southwest corner of Colorado and the southeast of Utah. These ruins are amidst the Canyons of the Ancients (site of thousands of archeological sites maintained by the Bureau of Land Management or BLM) Most of the archeological sites in this area are difficult to get to, with difficult terrain and unmaintained roads. The coordinates listed above are for the offices of the Hovenweep Monument in Cortez Colorado on Road G/McElmo Canyon Road.
We entered the area of gulches and canyons off Route 491 in Pleasant View, onto County Road CC...and drove through miles of modern agricultural land. Soon, among the cornfields, we found the first of the archeological sites...and realized this land has been farmed for centuries.
We headed southwest down Road 10, and soon the land became red with rock and the vegetation turned desertlike. We found the road for the Painted Hand Pueblo, a ruin maintained by the BLM. It was rough, and slick...just the kind of road us off roaders like. However, just past the parking area, the trail leading to the Cutthroat Castle Group of ruins, part of the Hovenweep Monument, became extremely difficult, and as were weren't in our real off road vehicle, we weren't going to test the high clearance rough trail. But, we'll be back for that.
We continued southwest into Utah, where the most accessible of these "villages" can be reached by paved roads. Here there is a Ranger Station, hiking trail and campground...the coordinates for the Ranger Station and Visitor Center for these ruins is N37 23.232' W109 04.773'.
Little Ruin Canyon, also known as the Square Tower Group, sits behind the Visitors Center, and allows visitors to walk a 1.5 - 2.00 mile path around a a collection of a dozen or so ruins. Here, visitors can imagine life in the little "metropolis" of dwellings. Most of the pictures shown here are from the Little Ruin Canyon.
Other groups (or villages) include Cajon, Cutthroat Castle, Goodman Point, Hackberry, Holly and Horseshoe. They are scattered throughout these valleys, and most of them are accesible only with high clearance 4 wheel drive.
Program: America's Byways
Website: [Web Link]
Official Name: Trail of the Ancients
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