Hovenweep is one of those blessed places that is both amazing and peaceful. Because it’s off the beaten path, it’s normally calm and quiet on top of being a great place to camp.

There’s really only one hike within the National Monument proper and that’s the self guided 2 mile roundtrip Square Tower Group Loop. On the hike you’ll walk around the rim of Little Ruin Canyon amongst not so little ruins until you drop down into and up the other side. There’s boulder ruin, twin tower ruins, and the incredible and perplexing square tower ruin, one of my favorite Ancestral Puebloan / Anasazi Ruins in all of the southwest.

The other good hike at Hovenweep is known as the Cutthroat Castle Group and it requires some high clearance driving over a bumpy rocky dirt road. It’s only a .2 mile hike from the parking area if your car can make it and it’s worth it to view the awesome ruins. Unfortunately though, the ruins are closed since the road you need to drive or walk on in order to reach the area is in private hands and they’ve denied access to the Feds which means, we’re out of luck. I was lucky enough to have visited it before access was denied.

The campground really is a treat. It is quiet, dark, and affords an amazing view of Sleeping Ute Mountain. Which, from Hovenweep, truly does look like a sleeping Indian with his head on the north end and his feet on the south with his knee up.