Hovenweep National Monument
Straddling southeast Utah and southwest Colorado this National Monument (NM) highlights and preserves the ancient remains from the nomadic Paleo-Indian hunters that inhabited this area over 13,000 years ago.
The roads to get here are not good and it was a slow bumpy ride at best. To stay on paved roads, make sure you follow the large brown park signs. If you listen to your GPS, you’ll very likely end up on narrow dirt roads. As a side note, they are trying to improve the roads and the pavement was new enough that we ended up spending 45 minutes removing the wet asphalt from our vehicles immediately upon pulling into the campground.
Hovenweep Campground
This small campground located right behind the visitor center can be reserved ahead of time and offers incredible views, mostly level parking pads, shaded picnic tables, and bathroom with flush toilets.
The park is broken up into five sections and we explore four of them over the few days we’re here.
Square Tower Group
This is the largest and most visited section of the park due to its easy access from the visitor center and campground.
Leaving directly from our campsite, we follow the connector trail to the beginning of the 2-mile Ruins loop trail. Using the self-guided tour available on the NPS app or via pamphlet at the visitor center, we make our way around the canyon rim stopping to read about the different sites we’re seeing as we go.
Stronghold House
Unit Type House
Twin Towers
Rimrock House
Eroded Boulder House
Views down canyon
Tower Point
Hovenweep Castle
View down canyon from just beyond Hovenweep Castle
Square Tower
Hovenweep House
View back up canyon
From left to right: Hovenweep House, Square Tower, and Hovenweep Castle
Round Tower
This morning we pack a lunch and head out in the Jeep to explore the northern sites of Hovenweep NM. To get there we cross into Colorado and take some really good 4×4, high-clearance required, roads through the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.
Holly Ruins, Horseshoe and Hackberry
Our first dirt road leads us to the Holly Ruins trailhead.
Holly Ruins
This short (<1 mile) trail leads us down to some large ruins perched on the edge of cliffs surrounding a natural spring.
Heading further down the trail beyond the ruins, we find a few petroglyphs. We’ve seen these particular markings in many areas and as we learned from the movie at the visitor center yesterday… this is how the people kept track of the solstices.
Horseshoe Spring
After leaving Holly Ruins, we head back up the road to the Horseshoe Hackberry trailhead. Where almost immediately, we’re walking along the rim of Horseshoe Spring with a view down the valley.
Horseshoe Tower
As we’re looking down the valley, we catch sight of Horseshoe Tower and follow along the trail to get a closer look.
Horseshoe House
Continuing to follow the trail we come across Horseshoe House, so named because of its shape.
Hackberry Pueblo
Finally, we reach the Hackberry Pueblo viewpoint and then head around to get a closer look at the ruins.
Heading back out the road we came in on, we turn northeast on the main road and head up to the last two sites that make up the northern section of Hovenweep NM.
Cutthroat Castle
Only accessible via high clearance 4-wheel drive or by foot, these ruins are in my opinion are the most spectacular ones we’ve seen. There are several very well-preserved structures in a small area and the main one is still very much intact.
2-story building at Cutthroat Castle
When you consider the engineering that it took to create this incredible 2-story structure using the existing landscape 13,000 years ago, it’s mind boggling.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument (NM)
This living landscape is still used today by descendants of the ancient peoples who built and lived in these ruins. It contains the highest known concentration of archaeological sites in the United States. Many of which have yet to be explored. We’ll be visiting two of the better-known sites this afternoon.
On the way from Cutthroat Castle to Painted Hand we stop for a few pictures along the road.
Painted Hand Overlook
Once we reach Painted Hand, we head out to the overlook for a view of the Hovenweep Canyon Valley.
Painted Hand Pueblo Trail
Heading north from the overlook, we head down the Painted Hand Trail to see a few of the ruins. The trail is short but has a few steep and technical sections highlighting the terrain these people traversed on a daily basis.
Prairie Dog
On the way to our last destination for the day, we see this little fellow and few of his friends along the road.
Lowry Pueblo
This National Historic Landmark protects and preserves this large Pueblo just northwest of Cortez, CO. There are information boards surrounding this site and one of them tells us: “Throughout most of the year, the open space to the east of the main building likely functioned as a village square or plaza.”
One of the things that makes this site special is that you can actually go into it. The lower level is significantly cooler than the ambient temperature outside.
Used for community activities and important ceremonies, these great Kivas are special buildings that drew people from neighboring communities to celebrate special occasions, trade, and negotiate peace.
Dark Skies
When we arrived at the campground, we were disappointed to realize that we wouldn’t be here for one of the dark sky presentations put on by a volunteer ranger. Luckly, we happened to meet him (Nick) in the campground yesterday afternoon and he invited us to his campsite in the evening to view the night sky through his telescope.
The sky was so dark, the stars looked like crystals scattered across black velvet. There we so many of them we didn’t know where to look. Two planets were also clearly visible and Nick showed us several constellations through his telescope.
We did a nightscape that you can view on our YouTube channel by clicking here, but I’ve included still that includes the Milky Way below.
Amazing! Nick, we can’t thank you enough for sharing your knowledge of the sky with us.
Slot Canyon
As we were saying goodnight to Nick last night, he mentioned a slot canyon a couple of hundred yards down the Holly Ruins Trail beginning at the campground. So, for our last adventure in the park, we head out to explore it.
Incredible! What an amazing way to begin our 2026 summer adventure!
