Hovenweep National Monument
Near the border of Colorado and Utah, tucked into the Little Ruin Canyon sits the remains of an ancestral Puebloan city. Perched precariously on steep cliff walls and boulders, these towers may have been used for defending precious resources, perhaps water.
Most of the ruins around the Southwest give some hints as to how the structures were used, but here at Hovenweep not much remains of the ancestral edifices. Square, circular, and D-shaped towers loom over the small canyon, built only feet away from the edge of cliffs. Some are built on rock spires, feet away from the canyon walls. It makes you wonder what made take these seemingly unnecessary chances with primitive structures that must have taken enormous effort to build. Speculators say square tower may have been used as a sort of a stairwell (or ladder well) for traversing the canyon ledge. Perhaps no other protected ruins sit amongst such beautiful scenery, with the gentle Ute and Black Mountains dozing in the distance. An easy, mostly flat, paved trail takes you around the canyon rim to each of the interesting archeological sites.
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