A Day In The Park: Hovenweep National Monument

There are numerous units of the National Park System that preserve the art, architecture, and history of people who lived here long before the first white European ever sailed to the land we now call the United States. Hovenweep National Monument, located in portions of Colorado and Utah, is one such park, protecting six prehistoric sites built between A.D. 1200 and 1300. While it is unclear what purpose these sites may have served, it is believed they served the community as ceremonial centers. These six sites display careful attention and detail to the masonry still standing, telling us a little about the denizens of the area. Here, indeed, is a park in which you can spend a day in the Great Outdoors while learning the history of those who came before us centuries ago.

Park Staff call Hovenweep a “small park with big potential.” True, it’s nowhere as large as Mesa Verde, Yosemite, or Yellowstone national parks, but you can spend a full day here hiking, learning a little history, birdwatching, and capturing cool photos of both landscape and ruins. You might even decide to spend the night here and you can do that at a campground near the Visitor Center.

Hovenweep is open year-round and the first thing you should do once you’ve arrived here is stop at the visitor center. Open 9 a.m.-4 p.m., you can pick up guidebooks, maps, other publications, and souvenirs. Restrooms are available and you can speak with rangers or volunteers. When the visitor center is closed, trails are still open sunrise to sunset unless otherwise posted.

Feel like getting a little exercise? There are 10 trails ranging from 0.14 miles (.23 kilometers) roundtrip to seven miles (11.3 kilometers) roundtrip, some of which require a high-clearance 4-wheel-drive vehicle to access. All of these will lead you to ruins for viewing close-up or as background structures against a rugged landscape vista perfect for photo ops. Hiking trails are lined with rocks, reminding you to stay on the trail to protect the area’s cultural and natural history.

Take your smartphone/point-and-shoot/SLR camera with you. In addition to the amazing wide-angle landscape shots you are certain to capture, it’s entirely possible you’ll spot some park wildlife, such as a colorful collared lizard or perhaps a coyote or cottontail rabbit.

According to Park Staff:

Hovenweep is home to more than 150 species, including over 10 species of bats, 13 species of rodents, 11 species of lizards, 10 species of snakes, and 90 species of birds that live within the park’s 785 acres.

So, make sure you have a telephoto lens for your camera or use your smartphone’s telephoto setting.

What about the units of this national monument? According to Park Staff:

Six ancestral Puebloan communities are spread 20 miles [32 kilometers] along the Utah-Colorado border. Each community is one “unit” of the park and each unit is not connected to the others. The small squares of Hovenweep’s units are surrounded by a mix of Bureau of Land Management land, Navajo nation land, and private land. This unique layout may be confusing to navigate on your own and we highly recommend stopping at the visitor center (located within the Square Tower Group unit) to speak with a ranger.

The six units are:

Square Tower Group (the main unit which includes the visitor center and campground)

Cutthroat Castle

Horseshoe and Hackberry Units

Holly

Cajon

Take care to really observe the fine level of masonry employed by the Ancestral Puebloans as you explore their architecture. Oftentimes, we don’t give these ancient people enough credit for their industry and creativity, given what was available to them at the time.

If you do choose to spend the night at the Hovenweep Campground, there are 31 sites, all of which are ADA-compliant with one site specifically designated ADA accessible (Site 30). While these campsites were constructed with tents in mind, you can park up to a 36-foot-long RV/Vehicle-trailer combo. Open year-round, sites are $20 per night, reservable through recreation.gov.

If you enjoy stargazing, Hovenweep became the seventeenth International Dark Sky Park in 2014 and is the first dark sky park to span two states. During the spring and summer, you can reserve a spot for a ranger stargazing program.

The units within this national monument are isolated, there are no services out there, and you shouldn’t solely rely on your GPS device or app. Bring a map and make sure your vehicle is fueled and you’ve packed plenty of water, snacks, and maybe a blanket or two, since the mornings and nights can get chilly.

Located on the homeland of 30 Native American tribes, Hovenweep is a place to stop and visit on your way to or from  your actual national park destination, since it’s about 75 miles (121 kilometers) northwest of Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. It’s a place filled with the ghosts and history of those Indigenous people who came before us.

Traveler’s Choice For: History, photography, stargazing