Canyon of the Ancients and Hovenweep National Monuments

The rains can in again around 3:00 a.m. and it was still raining at 6:30 when we got up.  We stayed in trying to decide what we would do today.  We had planned to go to Canyon of the Ancients and Hovenweep but knew that some of the road around those parks were dirt.  We weren't sure if we could even get to those parks.  We learned from the internet (yeah, internet) that there was a Anasazi Heritage Center nearby and that that Center was the Visitor's Center for Canyon of the Ancients so we decided that we would start there, ask questions, and go from there.

This is what Sandy does when it is raining outside.

The name of this mountain is "Sleeping Ute Mountain."    The tallest peak is his arms folded over his stomach; his head is on the right; and his legs are stretched out from the folded arms.  This picture looks like he is laying in a bed of clouds.  According to Ute  legend, someday this Ute Indiana will arise and reclaim the land that has been taken from the Utes.

First Stop of the day.  It was one of the best visitor's centers that we have been in.  We spent nearly two hours there learning about the Canyons of the Ancient.  When I think of the ancient Anasazi people, I always think about the cliff dwelling tribes but as the cliff dwellers were building their homes, other groups of Anasazi people where living in the plains between the mesas and mountains.  We learned that thousands of archaeological sites have been recorded and there are thousands more to be documented and studied.  We were told that where we had planned to go could be visited by driving on mostly paved roads.  So off we went in the rain.

The first we visited was Lowry Pueblo.  Only walls remain but the size of the pueblo can be seen.

This is a drawing of what the pueblo would have looked like in the 1200's.

Stop Number Two was Hovenweep.  By the time we got there, the rain had stopped and we were able to hike on the rim trail and view some of the ruins along that trail.

This is what the landscape on the mesas looked like.

This house was built under an eroded boulder.

One of the things that makes these dwellings different is the towers that were built.  In the canyons near this canyon, there are five other clusters of dwellings and they all have towers.  It is not know if the towers were part of their religious observances or used for defense.  Most of the towers are two to three stores tall.

This is a side view of the Eroded Boulder House.

After we left Hovenweep, we drove through the McElmo Creek Canyon.  It was very pretty.  These pictures show some of the varied scenery in the canyon.

We got back to camp around 3:30.  We had planned to visit Four Corners but that would have been another two hours to our day away from Sandy so we decided to go back to camp.  We needed to load the car and make some preparations for leaving tomorrow morning.   We have been to Four Corners a couple of times so we decided to pass on visiting there this time.  It finally stopped raining but is cool.  We actually turned on the furnace in the motorhome.  We really enjoyed the day.  When the day began, we were feeling that it would be a wasted day.  I am glad to say that it was a wonderful day despite the rain.  Tomorrow we head back to New Mexico.