Four Parks in the Four Corners

Over the course of a week, I visited four sites in the Four Corners region: Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Mesa Verde National Park, Yucca House National Monument, and Hovenweep National Monument.

All four of these sites have historical and cultural importance to the ancient peoples who called the Colorado Plateau home. But, unless you’ve made the trip to the Four Corners region yourself, Mesa Verde is probably the only one of these sites you’ve heard of. Despite the cool name, Canyons of the Ancients is not well known. As I write this, my spell checker doesn’t recognize the name Hovenweep. Yucca House, even though it is a National Monument, is underdeveloped. These four sites show a wide variety within our national park system.

The first site I visited was Mesa Verde. This National Park is world renowned, and for good reason. The cliff dwellings are spectacular, the views from Park Point are incredible, and archeology is still ongoing. The site’s importance was a major driver in Congress establishment of the Antiquities Act which gives the President the power to declare national monuments.

After Mesa Verde, I visited several sites within Canyons of the Ancients. Operated by the Bureau of Land Management, this National Monument incorporates 176,056 acres. It offers excellent hiking and great views of Sleeping Ute Mountain. The BLM operates a Museum and Visitor Center (formerly known as the Anasazi Heritage Center) just outside of Delores, Colorado. The Visitor Center is on the site of the Domínguez Pueblo and Escalante Pueblo. Canyons of the Ancients also includes Lowry Pueblo, Painted Hand Pueblo, and Sand Canyon Pueblo. These three sites require driving on some gravel county roads to get to, but the drive is worth it. Lowry is home to one of the largest Kivas known. Painted Hand and Sand Canyon Pueblos offer amazing views of the canyons and plains of the Colorado Plateau.

I then visited Hovenweep. I honestly had never even heard of Hovenweep until venturing into the Four Corners region. But this site blew me away. The pueblos built on the canyon rim were truly incredible. Unlike Mesa Verde, a visitor is able to walk right up to the structures.

While Yucca House National Monument is only 22 miles from Mesa Verde, it sits in sharp contrast. Yucca House is 11 miles south of the town of Cortez and only two miles off Highway 491. The last two miles are on a gravel road. As you approach the site, you begin to question if you are in the right place, as you appear to be headed for a dead end at a local ranch. Indeed, the site borders private land, and you have to park in rancher’s yard. Only a NPS sign assures you that you are at a National Monument. Once parked, you enter the Historic Site and see, well, not a lot, at least at first. There is a stone wall a few hundred yards off. As you make your way to the wall, you begin to see more evidence of the ancient inhabitation. Divots in the ground, more stone works, and a hill that appears, well the only way to describe it is man-made. When you climb to the top of this man-made hill you relive you are standing on a ≈1,000-year-old stone structure. As you look out across the field, you can clearly see that this was once a village. Yucca House is not nearly as well preserved or as spectacular as Mesa Verde, but because of that, when you are the only human there, you few somehow more connected to the site, more connected to the ancients who built it.

These four sites represent a wide variety within the Parks system. Mesa Verde is one of the most well-known and developed Parks. While few ever visit the nearby Yucca House. They demonstrate the Park systems duel, sometimes bi-polar, mission; to provide accuses to America’s wonders and to also preserve and protect these same wonders. Or, this post might just be a good way to share some cool travel photos.