We left out of Monticello with a bit of plan. We’d go to Hovenweep National Monument, then
through Canyons of the Ancients National Monument toward Cortez. Then we’d decide where next.
Once off the main road things got a bit interesting. The smaller roads leading to Hovenweep were
narrow, twisty, up and down and full of nasty potholes. Luckily traffic was sparse and most of the
time we could wander across the other lane to avoid the potholes. The route we took was different than the
route I’d taken years ago when I went out to Hovenweep between a training
session at Mesa Verde and one in Flagstaff.
I had a whole weekend to get there, so I saw a few things. This time it was the motorhome, towing the
Honda, instead of a Dodge Caravan, so the road conditions made more of an
impact. The distance out to Hovenweep,
though, was much like my solo trip – long stretches of lonely road, then a turn
and another long stretch of lonely road.
We worried a bit about parking such a long rig, but figured
they’d have some kind of warning in the “preparing for your visit” section of
the web site, or we’d unhook to turn around, if it came to that. They do have 3 “oversize vehicle” parking
spaces and a separate entrance and exit for the parking lot. There is a small campground, too. Some of the sites are big enough for a rig
like ours, as long as we unhook and park the motorhome and car separately. Besides, most are back-in and you can’t back
up with a car on a tow bar. It would
damage the car and the tow bar.
Each of the national park units with Anasazi (the preferred
term now is “Ancient Puebloan”) ruins is different. They differ in placement (cliff dwellings, stand-alone
structures, above ground, below ground, etc.) and in architectural styles. It used to be believed that nobody knew where
they went. The truth is Anglo culture
didn’t know, but the Pueblo people, and other peoples of the southwest knew all
along that modern Pueblo people are their descendants.
Hovenweep probably has more variety of structures and styles
than most places. All are built on the
edge, or down inside a small canyon. In
the time it was occupied, a seep at the head of the canyon provided water. A series of check dams allowed the people to
gather enough water for daily use and to grow enough crops to store the surplus
for leaner times. Over time, though, the
seep produced less water, and they had to move on. One of the most unique of the structures was
built using a giant boulder as roof and partial wall, minimizing the amount of
actual construction needed. Other
structures are round, square, D shaped, and one is of the “unit construction”
seen in some other ruins. The “unit
construction” is a series of square rooms lined up next to each other. Some connect to each other, some open only to
the outside. One of the Twin Towers
still has original door lintels and they dated the logs back to 1277, using the
tree rings. They say the Twin Towers are
some of the most carefully constructed structures in the southwest.
Hovenweep allows dogs on the trails (on a leash, of course)
so we took Max on the trail along the canyon’s edge. At a half mile his back leg started kicking
out – spasms – so I stayed with him while Tom went on to see two more of the
structures. Then, on the way back to the
visitor center, we’d stop and make him sit or lie down for a few minutes at the
first “kick”. Poor guy was pretty tired
when we finally landed for the night.
Hours of standing at the front, watching the scenery roll by and a long
walk. Actually, he laid down several
times between Hovenweep and Naturita. He
was really tired. He’s passed 12½ and
had several major health issues, so he’s entitled to get tired.
As we planned our route, we would leave Hovenweep by a
different route, one that would take us through the southern end of Canyons of
the Ancients National Monument. We
expected to see some signs of either ruins or side roads to ruins or
sites. What we did see was interesting
terrain, an end to pavement, farms and ranches.
We never saw any indication we had entered or left the Monument, much
less any sites or turn-offs to sites. We
couldn’t tell if the road was normally without pavement or partway through an
improvement project. But, it was rough
enough to start worrying about things in the motorhome as they banged around.
We knew we were out of the Monument when we entered
Cortez. So much for that
exploration. Now, which way? Looking at the Colorado map we quickly realized
almost any direction would take us over steep passes. We had talked last fall about seeing the
Gateway area in other seasons. So,
toward Gateway it was. At one point, on
a steep (7%) twisty grade, I looked ahead and knew we needed to meet the truck
on a straight section. It was a long
low-boy with a heavy load and needed the entire road for some of the turns. Luckily, we did meet on a short straight
section. I think it was one of the
longest low-boy trailers I’ve ever seen.
We figured we’d stop at the first likely looking boondocking
area (didn’t see any) or the first RV park.
As it turns out, there is ONE RV park between Grand Junction and
Cortez. The owner if a former Marine
(flying the flag at the office was the first clue; his ramrod straight walk is
another) who just recently purchased the place.
He’s really nice and helpful.
When Tom suggested we try to find a place to eat, instead of
cooking, we headed out. There’s a café
in Naturita. Good prices, large portions,
decent quality. We fed Max leftover
chicken strips and a couple bites of chicken fried steak, saving the leftover
baked potato for our breakfast. Then
supplemented the leftovers with pulled pork and brown rice.
The big trucks and the birds start early in Naturita. By 5 am there were a series of trucks, birds
and assorted sounds working on ending sleepy time.
Where to today? To be
continued . . .
