Hovenweep National Monument
Today was another perfect day for hiking. The temperatures were in the low 70's with blue skies. We continued our explorations of ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) sites at Hovenweep National Monument near the Colorado border. The past two days at Fallen Roof and House on Fire, we hiked up washes to ruins in alcoves above a canyon floor. Today, we hiked the Rim Trail around Little Ruin Canyon and shot ruins across the canyon or below the rim. The ruins that were along the trail were closed off, so we could only shoot the outside. But the biggest difference was that most of the ruins at Hovenweep were towers. House on Fire and Fallen Roof looked like "traditional" ruins found on the Colorado Plateau that are in alcoves on canyon ledges and have basically square or rectangular shapes. Hovenweep had towers out in the open and often perched on giant rocks.
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| Little Ruin Canyon | Twin Towers | Tower Point & The Sleeping Ute |
Like a lot of other ruins we've seen, Hovenweep was constructed between 1200 - 1300 A.D. In a couple of instances, the towers at Hovenweep were constructed with logs providing some of the support. But when the logs rotted, the towers collapsed and were reduced to piles of rubble. Water was the key to survival at Hovenweep and nearly every ruin is located close to a spring. Amazingly, the people here figured out how to farm and produce enough food for 100-150 people.
The most striking ruins were Hovenweep Castle and Square Castle at the northwest end of the canyon. Hovenweep Castle with its two D-shaped towers was perched on the rim of the canyon. A check dam was built in a nearby intermittent stream to capture water for the settlement of farmers. Square Castle was down in the canyon, so we could only see it from a distance. It was two stories high and built on a large sandstone bolder. These guys were ingenious builders.
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| Hovenweep Castle | Square Tower & Hovenweep Castle |
The Rim Trail was an easy 2-mile walk around the canyon with one section that drops down into the canyon and up the other side.
Much of the rim section of the trail is across slickrock, so the footing was easy and you didn't have to pay much attention to where you're going.
I was looking out over the canyon when I heard what sounded like a beetle crossing in front of me. It was barely audible. I didn't think much about it
until I looked down and realized it was a little rattlesnake. It had a tiny, tiny rattle, which is why I could barely hear it. He coiled up and let us know
he wanted his space. We didn't need any convincing to leave him alone.
Hovenweep also has several "outlier settlements" like Cutthroat Castle and Holly House. We will definitely want to check them out next time we're in the area.
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