Negro Canyon South of Painted Hand Pueblo

The Upper Trailhead for the Hovenweep Cutthroat Castle Trail can be used as a starting point for a hike to the west rim of Negro Canyon. This area is about 10 miles north of the Hovenweep Visitor Center along County Road 10 near the southwest Colorado and Utah border.

An old road that is labeled on the Canyons of the Ancients map as 4531f descends into Hovenweep Canyon and heads north.

As the road passes below the Painted Hand Pueblo ruins site, there is a side trail that climbs to the mesa top area between Hovenweep and Negro Canyons. It took me about 1:00 hour to arrive at the mesa top.

Along the canyon floor of the west side of Negro Canyon, there are at least three rubble pile ruins sites and there is also part of a circular tower on a ledge of the cliffs. (Use the Negro Canyon labels for views of these sites.)  On this hike I turned south and walked along the west rim of Negro Canyon. From this area, some of the power lines and gas plants on Mockingbird Mesa to the east can be sighted.

About 1 mile to the south there is a dog leg knife edge area leading to a sky island formation. These rocky points with good views are sometimes likely locations for ruins sites.

At the elbow of the dogleg, it looked like there was a boulder based ruins site in the area below the rim. I didn't notice any ruins sites in this area up to this point. I didn't walk out to the tip of the sky island. To get to the boulder below I had to backtrack to a low point along the knife edge to avoid the steep cliffs.

It took me about 0:30 minutes to arrive at the boulder from the rocky point above. There was a small amount of rubble visible on two levels of this pair of boulders. I was 2:50 hours into my hike when I arrived at this site.

On the east side, there was a short low wall of large boulders that form a small plaza. The creek bottom of Negro Canyon near this site has several Cottonwood trees growing, suggesting that there is some local water in this otherwise dry area.

It appeared that much of the rubble has fallen on the north side between the two boulders. These building stones appear to be more thin and flat than most of the ruins sites in the Canyons of the Ancients.

From this ruins site is a 5 minute walk east to the road that appears on the Canyons of the Ancients map as 4532. This road connects to the bicycle loop that passes by the Hackberry and Holly sites, so it is possible to bike to this site but not drive. It is difficult to pick this site out from the road. I followed road 4532 back north and then turned west and climbed back to the Negro Canyon mesa top and then returned the way I came on Road 4531f.

My return hike took 2:50 hours for a total hike of 6:00 hours for about 9 miles. I hiked on a 76 F degree late September day and carried 3 liters of water.

Negro Canyon near NW Mockingbird Mesa

Mockingbird Mesa is located 7.2 miles south along County Road 12 from the junction with Road BB to a left turn. Continuing past this turn for 0.9 miles and turning left it is 1.3 more miles to a locked gate and the west side of the upper part of Negro Canyon.

This is the south end of the road labeled 4531a on the Canyons of the Ancients park map. This area is west of Pleasant View in southwest Colorado.

The only direction to hike at this point is to the west. There is a cleared swath of Pinon Pine and Juniper forest along a carbon dioxide pipeline. There is also an east and west fence close to the pipeline route. I followed the pipeline route west, crossing several minor drainages that appear to be side canyons of Negro Canyon.

After about 1.2 miles and 1:00 hour of slow walking I arrived at the minor dirt road that leads to the private Hovenweep Ranch. I had wandered off the pipeline route to look at the heads of the minor drainages in this area but didn't notice anything interesting.

The east and west fence along the north side of the Hovenweep Ranch is the same fence that is visible near my starting point and I decided to follow it back. There is a vague cow trail most of the way along the fence.

A short distance back east along the fence, there is a semi-circular rubble pile visible. This site is somewhat vague as a structure but there are many pottery shards visible scattered near the rubble.

One of the pottery shards was rectangular shaped and had a hole drilled into it. The area museums have displays of shards similar to this and they identify these as pendants. This is the first shard like this that I have noticed in the field. ( It is still there).

Continuing along the fence and crossing the low point of this drainage, then climbing up the east slope, there is another small ruins site with a small rubble pile and some large stones piled on a boulder.

This same site also had a large semi-circular structure that had higher walls and a deeper depression in front of it than the previous site . This structure might be a full circle, but the south side wasn’t as obvious as the north side.

This site also had many pottery shards. From this site it was about 0:30 minutes to return to the starting point. My total hike took 2:20 hours for about 2.5 miles. I hiked on a 66 F degree late September day.

Negro Canyon to SW Mockingbird Mesa

Hovenweep Canyon in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwest Colorado can be hiked across using the old mineral exploration roads. Starting at the Upper Trailhead for the Cutthroat Castle Trail, the west rim of Negro Canyon, the next canyon to the east, can be reached with about 1:00 hour of easy hiking. 

This area is about 10 miles north of the Hovenweep National Monument Visitor Center along County Road 10, then east on the marked turnoff to the Painted Hand Pueblo.

Below the west rim of Negro Canyon, there are three Ancestral Pueblo Ruins sites visible. One of them includes part of what looks like a circular tower perched halfway up a cliff, with some rubble remains on the rim.

It takes a few minutes of searching along the south section of the canyon rim to find a route down to the canyon floor. In the vicinity of these ruins sites, there is a vague ATV trail that leads east toward the dirt road that runs along the bottom of Negro Canyon, near the dry creek bed. The dirt road appears on the Canyons of the Ancients map as Road 4532.
 

Hiking near the dirt road at the canyon bottom, I spotted some unusual structures in the cliffs to the south.

These two walls are north facing and appear to enclose small alcoves in the rock face. More often, hikers see circular granary structures in locations like this. There is also a small arch in this same area.

From the bottom of Negro Canyon, I continued east along the south side of a side canyon, climbing toward the east rim and Mockingbird Mesa. The Mockingbird Mesa area is said to have a very high concentration of archaeological sites, and is also an area that has some industrial activity, mostly carbon dioxide and oil and gas wells.

There is a good road traveling the length of Mockingbird Mesa but it is blocked to vehicles by a normally closed gate. Hikers can enter the area and explore on foot.

While hiking northeast along the south side of the side canyon, I spotted a very large ruins site at the head of the side canyon. There is another old exploration road that crosses this area. It connects vaguely to the Negro Canyon bottom but I didn't notice it there.

I came across it along the way and followed it to the canyon rim. The large site is easily visible from the road and it is a short walk along the rim over to the site. It was 2:40 hours into my hike when I arrived at this large ruins site.

Amidst all the rubble, there are several wall sections still standing. Most of this site is along the rim and just below the rim.

The site didn't appear to extend back into the forest area. There is a drainage in the middle of the site. I didn't see any flowing water or any vegetation that indicates a lot of water, like Hackberry or Cottonwood trees. I think this site is known as the Seven Towers.

My return hike took 2:50 hours. I used the old road for easy hiking all the way from Mockingbird to the bottom of Negro Canyon. It was on the return hike that I detoured off the ATV trail and looked at the small arch and the small walled in alcoves. In the area near the alcoves there are more spots to climb to the west rim of Negro Canyon.

 From the Negro Canyon west rim it was easy hiking along the old road, across Hovenweep Canyon, back to the starting point. My total hike was 6:00 hours for about 9 miles on a 70 F degree mid October blue sky day. I carried and drank 3 liters of water.

Along the total route from the west Hovenweep Canyon rim, across Negro Canyon, to the west rim of Mockingbird Mesa, I saw four modest ruins sites and the one large one, not counting the publicized Painted Hand Pueblo. Almost all of this hike into the Ancients backcountry can follow existing old roads and trails.

Negro Canyon West Rim Trail from Painted Hand

Negro Canyon is to the east of Hovenweep Canyon and west of Sandstone Canyon in the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwest Colorado. The upper trailhead for the Hovenweep Cutthroat Castle Trail can be used as a starting point for a hike to the west rim of Negro Canyon. This area is about 10 miles north of the Hovenweep Visitor Center on County Road 10.

There is an old road that branches off near the Cutthroat Trail Head and descends into Hovenweep Canyon. As this road passes below the Painted Hand Pueblo site, there is a side road that climbs to the east rim of Hovenweep Canyon. This side road can be spotted easily from the rim area above, but is easy to miss down below if you’re not watching for it.

At the rim, the mining road continues south but I turned east off the trail and walked the short 100 yard distance to the west rim. It took 1:00 hour of hiking to get to the west rim of Negro Canyon.

Scanning the rim area to the north and south with binoculars I spotted an Ancestral Pueblo ruins site in the level area below the cliffs. In the area overlooking the site, there is a drainage that offers a way down, though it is tricky and there is an easier route about 200 yards to the south.

The site spotted from the rim looks like it is spread out on both sides of a drainage, or it could be considered to be two sites. The structure to the north has a large section of wall holding together on one side and looks like a large rubble pile on the other sides.

Just south across the small drainage there is a circular looking structure. Rubble piles form the circle and there is a depression in the middle. The amateur observer might think this resembles a great kiva. I didn't want to climb back to the rim the same way I came down and walked south where the cliffs appeared to be easier to climb. There were some alcove formations along the way, but I didn't see any signs that they had ever been used.

About 150 yards south I came across another rubble pile site. This site also appeared to be circular and appeared as rubble piles. This site is close to the base of the cliffs and the forest is thick enough that it is obscured unless you are very close to it. The cliffs are easier to climb in this vicinity than where I descended and I made my way back up to the rim.

The canyon rim makes a bend to the east above the second site and gives a good view back to the north. Scanning back north I saw a ruins wall section north of the first ruins site and decided to walk back, about 0.4 miles to look closer.

 Above the wall section there are some rubble remains of a rim site. This site is at the south junction point of a short side canyon off of the main canyon. Across Negro Canyon is Mockingbird Mesa and the large power lines to the industrial sites there are visible.

The wall section that I saw from the distance appears to be part of a circular tower that has a precarious perch over a steep cliff and is well below the rim top rubble remains. There is a notch in the cliff that might be a steep and narrow way down, but I didn't try it. It was hard to get a good angle to see the tower from the rim above. A juniper tree has taken root and perfectly blocks the view. Unfortunately, I didn't notice this structure when I was down below, only about 200 yards to the south.

There are some rough 4WD trails in the area below the tower. There is a road that enters the north end of Negro Canyon but there is a normally closed gate that blocks unauthorized vehicles, though a hiker or mountain bike can enter.

The view of the tower wasn't better from the south angle, but there is a good side view of the overall site. If a tower in this position was used for communication, there might be another to look for on the east side of Negro Canyon. I spent about 2:00 hours in the area of these three close together sites.

From a previous hike I know there is another boulder based site about 0.5 miles north of this area along this same rim. My return hike from the tower site took 1:10 hours for a total hike of 4:15 hours. The temperature at 9:30 AM was 70 F and it was 82 F at 1:45 PM on an early August day. I carried and drank 3 liters of water.

Painted Hand Pueblo Neighbors-Hovenweep Canyon

The Painted Hand Pueblo Trail is one of the few publicized trails in the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwest Colorado. The trailhead is along the marked east turn off of County Road 10 about 10 miles north of the Visitor Center for Hovenweep National Monument.

Further along the same rough road is the upper trailhead for the Cutthroat Castle Trail, one of the outlying Hovenweep sites. Just south of the trailhead there is an old road that leads down into Hovenweep Canyon and heads north, following parallel to the creek bed and passing the area below the Painted Hand Pueblo site. The Canyons of the Ancients doesn’t have many official trails but there are many old roads to follow while exploring this outdoor museum.

I started my hike at the Upper Cutthroat Castle Trail Head and followed the rough road down into the sagebrush and greasewood canyon bottom area. After passing below the Painted Hand Pueblo, I noticed a possible collapsed boulder based ruins site about 0.2 miles further north, but continued on.

After about 1.5 miles, the trail crosses the dry wash and continues north. About 50 yards past the wash crossing I turned east off the trail and started climbing toward the mesa top area that is between Hovenweep Canyon and Negro Canyon. I was surprised to see a fairly large south facing ruins site about half way to the mesa top. Part of a circular tower similar to the Painted Hand tower stands out from a distance.

There are several structures with wall sections still standing. The site is north and east of the Painted Hand site, about 1 mile away. The vicinity of Painted Hand is visible but I couldn’t see the site for sure. I could see the collapsed site that is just to the north of Painted Hand.

Like the other Hovenweep area sites, this site seemed to have several towers with a mix of square, circular and perhaps a D shaped. There are large piles of rubble here also, but the site seems very compact. It also looks like there are some perimeter walls at the rim but I didn’t see any structures on the area above the rim. I didn’t see any trails nearby or evidence that this site gets visited very often.

My original hiking goal was to get to the mesa top and continue to the rim of Negro Canyon and explore the area. I was lucky to stumble on this large site. It took about 1:00 hour to reach this very good ruins site.

It was a short walk across the mesa top between Hovenweep and Negro Canyons. From the west rim of Negro Canyon I could see a green tank and there is a dirt road running along the canyon bottom. Across the canyon on Mockingbird Mesa I could see two of the Carbon Dioxide facilities and the large power lines. I scanned along the far canyon rim with binoculars but didn’t spot any ruins structures.

There was one boulder based collapsed ruins site below the cliffs near the point where I first arrived at the rim and also a circular petroglyph that was visible in the same area. I continued south for about 0.3 miles along the rim and then turned west and found my way back to the original trail. My hike took 5:00 hours for about 5 miles on a relatively cool 65 F mid June day. The biting gnats that swarm in June didn’t appear until the day warmed up later in the afternoon. I carried and drank 3 liters of water.