Holly Ruins to Bridge Canyon -Bike Trail

The Holly Ruins Group is one of the outlying sites of Hovenweep National Monument in southwest Colorado. The rough road leading to the Holly and Horseshoe Units is about 5 miles north of the Hovenweep Visitor Center along County Road 10.

I started my hike close to the Holly Ruins Unit and continued south and east along the BLM road into the Canyons of the Ancients. This is part of a loop route in this area that mountain bikers follow. The Holly Group features several structures that are perched on large boulders including Tilted Tower where the boulder has shifted, dumping most of the structure into Keeley Canyon.
 

After about 10 minutes of hiking there is a marked junction with BLM Road 4723 turning south and Road 4721 continuing southeast. I stayed to the left on 4721 which crosses the canyon bottom of Bridge Canyon. Toward the east side there are two side canyons as the road begins to climb to the mesa top area between Bridge Canyon and Hovenweep Canyon. The first side canyon has two small stock ponds near the road.

The ridge between the two side canyons has a large rubble pile ruins visible from the east side as the road climbs to the mesa top area. I approached from the east side and found a way up to the site, but there is a layer of cliffs and the way wasn’t easy. This site isn’t visible from the west side near the stock ponds, though the climb up looks easier from that side.

There are collapsed structures in front of the boulder based rubble piles. I was 0:45 minutes into my hike when I spotted this site and it took a total of 1:00 hour to arrive. I had to look around for several minutes to find a way to climb up and only found one gap in the cliffs below the east side.
 

On the back side of the large boulders, there was an interesting wall section that blocked access to the site from the east. The routes up were so limited and difficult that I wondered if this was more of a safety fence than a barrier to entry.
 

The best wall sections still holding together were on the back side along the boulder top. There is just a narrow passage way along the back side between the structures and other large boulders. The style of brickwork makes an obvious change from the left to right sides. The visible pottery shards that I saw here were a mix of corrugated and painted black on white.

It was easier to descend down the west side of the ridge to the drainage and loop back to the stock ponds, than to return the way I came. From the ruins site, it only took 0:10 minutes to return to the ponds. From the ponds I retraced a short distance east and arrived at the mesa top area on the east side of Bridge Canyon. I turned around at the marked junction with BLM Road 4722 that heads north.


Road 4722 is part of the bike route and eventually loops west to a junction with County Road 10 about 1 mile north of the Holly turnoff and there is an old corral visible near the intersection. My return hike took 0:50 minutes and my total hike took 2:40 hours. I also made a short visit to the Holly Ruins Group. It was 56 F degrees at my 10:20 AM start and 68 F degrees at my 1:00 PM finish on a warmer than average early April day. I carried and drank 2 liters of water.



                                       

Solstice Panel on the Holly Ruins Trail

The Holly Trail is a 4.0 mile route from the Holly Ruins Group south to the campground near the Hovenweep National Monument Visitor Center on the south Utah and Colorado border. Just past the Holly Ruins Group is a small petroglyph panel that is thought to be connected with Ancient Skywatchers and the summer solstice.

The Holly Ruins Group is at the head of a small canyon with a seep springs providing water. Several of the structures here are perched on boulders. The terrain is rocky and dry with scattered Utah Junipers and sagebrush on the rim and greener in the canyon bottom.

Just past the ruins group, there is a short side trail to the petroglyph overlook point. There are steep cliffs below the overlook and no easy way to get close to it.

The petroglyph is on the underside of a large boulder that has broken open. The natural arrangement of the rock is such that a beam of light hits the panel at sunrise for a few days around the summer solstice. In some cases man made portals are made for these observations, but here a natural portal was used.

To the left it looks like there is a spiral and maybe a series of arcs. To the right there appears to be some concentric circles. The trail guide says there are some wall segments and rubble but these aren't visible from the overlook.

Holly Ruins Trail at Hovenweep

The Holly Trail is a 4 mile route from the Hovenweep National Monument campground to the Holly Ruins Group. There is a north access about 5 miles north of the Visitor Center on County Road 10, then about 1 mile along a rough road. The Horseshoe and Hackberry Trail is along the same side road.

At the north trail head, the main trail travels along the west rim of the canyon, but there is an unmarked trail on the east side that provides some different views.

Starting at the north end of the trail one of the most impressive ruins is Boulder House, perched on a large sandstone boulder in the bottom of Keeley Canyon. It was apparently built from the inside, rather than using scaffolding on the exterior.

Just past Boulder House is another large structure sitting on the rim rather than on a boulder. The trail guide doesn't mention a name for this large building. Sleeping Ute Mountain is visible in the distance.

Several of the other ruins here seem to also be perched on boulders in the canyon rather than use the canyon rim. Extensive rubble piles spill down into the canyon.

Just past the Holly Ruins Group there is a short side trail leading to what is thought to be a Solstice Panel. There is a natural rock portal that allows a beam of morning sunlight to strike a series of petroglyphs.

Past the Holly Group of ruins the trail continues along the rim of the canyon and then descends to the bottom, cutting through a narrow gap in the rim rock. The trail in the creek bed below didn't seem very interesting to me. The terrain changed from Pinon Pine and Juniper forest to a sagebrush area and there are signs that cows graze in the area.

There was one collapsed ruin along the banks of the dry wash. This seemed to be an unusual location as most of the other ruins were located on the rim or on big boulders.

At the south end of the trail there is another narrow crack to squeeze through climbing back to the rim. The trail arrives in the park campground, then connects to the Little Ruin Canyon Trail at park headquarters.