In case you missed the last few entries, today’s day 2 of our 5-day Southwest Colorado Trip. So far we’ve visited the Colorado National Monument, driven on a couple of scenic byways and stayed in Telluride. It’s been a great trip, but we’re just getting started.
Our first stop today was the Anasazi Heritage Center near Dolores, Colorado. I’m glad we visited this before touring the sites, not only because the staff is very knowledgeable and will help point you in the right direction (the roads are tiny and can be easy to miss) but also because you can read a little more about the ancestral Puebloan people and view a ton of ancient artifacts in their small but jam-packed museum.
I’m impressed by their artistic skills and craftsmanship way back in the day. Some of these pieces dated around 1000 A.D. That’s a crazy long time ago and look how well they held up!
If you’re not paying attention, you won’t really know when you’ve officially entered the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument. There’s no fanfare, no ranger booths, no fancy entrances – just a simple sign announcing your entry.
The land that the Canyons of the Ancients covers is huge, though there are just a few sites that are accessible to visitors.
Our first stop was Lowry Pueblo. It’s a tiny, compact ruin with a multi-storied Great House, various pit houses and a few kivas, including a Great Kiva which is set apart from the main structures.
Here’s the path to the main collection of ruins. You can pretty freely wander around the site and go inside the covered section you see on the left in the photo below (which is only covered to protect it from the elements – it’s of course not the original roof :).
Here’s an image of the Great Kiva at Lowry. Kivas were typically large rounded holes dug into the ground and used for spiritual ceremonies, communal meeting places and probably other activities that we don’t know about today.
After leaving Lowry, we made a slight detour to visit the Painted Hand Pueblo. The parking lot is about 1 mile off of the main road and you’ll have to navigate on a very bumpy, horribly maintained road. Be careful not to bottom out. It can be done in a car, though, and if you’re careful you should make it ok.
Once you arrive at the parking lot you’ll have to walk about 1/4 mile on the trail to get to the tower where the painted hand pictographs can be found. The first part of the walk is flat (like you see below), but to actually get down below the tower, you’ll have to scramble a bit over rocks. Watch your footing carefully because there are spots of loose dirt that can make it slippery.
Here’s the tower built above the large rock outcropping. There’s also remnants of rooms built below, too. I’m sorry to say we didn’t actually see the pictographs ourselves (we couldn’t really find any good descriptions of where exactly they can be found) but seeing the ruins was still worthwhile.
Our last, and most major, stop of the day was at Hovenweep National Monument. Pop into the Visitor Center to pick up a trail map. It’ll tell you what each building or ruin along the way was intended for and give a little history.
Hovenweep’s buildings are scattered around the edges of Little Ruin Canyon and can be seen by following the roughly 1.5-mile trail. Most of the trail is uneven and if you’re walking the entire loop, there’s a short section where you’ll have to descend into and then hike out of the canyon. Most people will be ok if they take it slowly, but I can’t say this part is the easiest hike for everyone.
You’ll see different types of towers, houses and even a small castle. The buildings aren’t really in that great of shape and you can’t go in or get too close to any of them, but it’s still interesting to see how a small community of people lived in this one area.
To Go or No
I have to say that if it wasn’t for my father-in-law, we wouldn’t have made the extra journey to the Canyons of the Ancients. I’d been to Mesa Verde before (and we’re heading there next on this trip) and I found Mesa Verde to be more impressive overall.
I can see 2 major reasons for visiting these sites:
1) If you’re hard core into archaeological sites & history.
2) You’re the type of person who wants to thoroughly explore everything.
If you’re short on time and you don’t fall into one of these two camps, I’d recommend skipping the Canyons of the Ancients and seeing Mesa Verde instead. You’ll basically end up seeing the same types of ruins at Mesa Verde without having to go out of your way too much (and I think once you’ve seen 3, 4 or 5 pit houses or kivas,they all start to look the same).
Planning Your Time
- Lowry Pueblo can be done in about 20-40 minutes.
- Painted Hand maybe takes 45 minutes to 1 hour because you have to hike about 1/4 mile in to see it.
- Hovenweep takes about 1-2 hours depending on how fast you walk and linger at each site.
Additional Information
- Canyons of the Ancients
- Summaries of the Anasazi Heritage Center, Lowry Pueblo & Painted Hand Pueblo
- Lowry Pueblo information
- Hovenweep information
- Map of Trails at Hovenweep
Map
Overview map of the sites we visited within Canyons of the Ancients & Hovenweep. (You can click on the link below each of the maps to zoom in for details.)
View Touring Ancient Puebloan Sites & Monuments in a larger map
Lowry Pueblo is super compact and accessible for most everyone.
View Touring Ancient Puebloan Sites & Monuments in a larger map
Hovenweep National Monument. The highlighted pink line indicates where the roughly 1.5 mile hiking trail is (approximately :).
View Touring Ancient Puebloan Sites & Monuments in a larger map