The Elusive McLean Basin Towers

McLean Basin is a wide canyon area on the southwest Colorado and Utah border in Canyon of the Ancients National Monument. This is a find it on your own National Monument with very few official trails.

The McLean Basin area has some relatively well known and elusive Ancestral Pueblo towers that I’ve been searching for.

I started this hike 0.5 miles down road 4720 at a pull over point where the road veers close to the basin rim and there is a primitive camp site. I’ve called this road the McLean Basin South Rim Overlook Trail and it leads to the large Pedro Point Ruins site at about the 3 mile point. This west leading road is about 1 mile south of the turnoff for the Painted Hand Trail in the vicinity of the outlying Hovenweep National Monument sites.

Hiking to the edge of the basin rim at this point at scanning with binoculars I spotted two towers across the basin on the north side below and to the left end of some large sandstone cliffs. It is about a 2 mile rim to rim hike to get over to the elusive towers. The cliffs are a good navigation aid as it is not a straight shot across the basin. I took a good look over my shoulder at the route down so I would recognize the way back.

There is a layer of cliffs near the rim to get past while descending into the basin. In the area where I started there are two drainages that offer routes down. I looked at both and chose the eastern most drainage. On the return hike I noticed a hikers trail about half way between the two drainages, but it is not marked and only starts at the edge of the cliffs, so it may be hard to find. Below the cliffs the slope is easier.

In the eastern part of McLean Basin there are inner canyons that aren’t visible from the rim. There are cow paths and some road segments that can be helpful but you still have to pick your route. The cliffs above the towers go out of sight at the bottom of the basin. The cliffs to stear by are in the middle of this view.

There are two tall towers inside a protective chain link fence. The fence has a gate that is secured but not locked and there is a sign that gives a little interpretive information. As I got closer to the site I found a rough 4WD road that leads to the site and continues past.

The southwest tower appears to be more complete than the northeast tower and has a band of darker rock part of the way up. The Jesse Fewkes report on this site from long ago describes a rectangular overall site with these towers at two of the corners. The walls that he mentions aren’t very visible now.

The northeast tower appears to have a larger diameter but there is more of it missing. It is built on a boulder and sticks up higher. It is also constructed using some of the dark surfaced stones but they are more randomly placed.

In the southeast corner of the site there is a circular dry wall structure. From this angle there is a good view of the cliffs behind the towers that I used to navigate to the site. Outside the fence there are some other ruins remnants, but nothing like the two towers. I kept an eye out for other sites along the way, walking over many high points and scanning around but didn’t see anything else.

The 4WD road continues to the top of the cliffs and beyond, allowing a higher view of the area. From above there is a good view of the arrangement of the site and the surrounding area. I didn’t see any sites up on top or see any more sites nearby.

 It took me 1:15 hours to hike to the elusive towers site and my total hike was about 3:50 hours for about 4 miles. It was a relatively cool mid June day of about 70 F with thin clouds and some breeze that kept the heat down and the biting gnats at bay. I carried 2 liters of water and drank most of it.

Squaw Point Trail

The Squaw Point Trail is a steep rough 4WD road that climbs out of Cross Canyon to the west of McLean Basin close to Canyons of the Ancients National Monument along the Utah and Colorado border. This trail is on the Utah side of the border but still BLM land.

The Cross Canyon access road is 2.7 miles northeast of the turnoff to the headquarters of Hovenweep National Monument along paved County Road 10. The access road descends steeply for 2.3 miles down into Cross Canyon and crosses a creek. Just past the creek there is a right turn that enters Cross Canyon and heads toward McLean Basin and the Cross Canyon Wilderness Study Area.

The trail I followed is about 1.2 miles up this road on the left. It is clearly visible while descending into the canyon. This rough uphill road connects to other roads on top of Squaw Point.


This is a view toward the Squaw Point Trail from a cairn on top of Ruins Point.

As the trail climbs there are increasingly better views of the west side of McLean Basin. After about 0.5 miles the trail levels out briefly and turns away from Cross Canyon. I turned off the trail and climbed toward a fence to get the highest possible view of the area below.

From this high view point I scanned the area below for ruins sites. I could see two that I have visited before that are below the Pedro Point Pueblo ruins site, but didn’t clearly see any others.

To the north along the fence line there was a jumble of very large boulders that looked like a possible foundation for an Ancestral Pueblo Ruins site. There were many nooks and sheltered areas that looked promising. I walked completely through the boulder area without seeing anything and turned back, and then spotted a small sheltered area with some rubble piles and some small wall sections still holding together.

It was an 85 F early June day and the biting gnats that prevail in June in the canyon areas were torturing me. This was only about a 1 mile hike and I spent 1:30 hours enjoying the views and searching for the ruins site.

Below the Squaw Point Trail to the east there is hilly area that the map calls Ruins Point. On another day in late June I hiked up onto Ruins Point hoping to find more ruins. I started this hike from the overlook point before the Cross Canyon access road begins to descend steeply and hiked down the road until I was below the steep cliffs.

Leaving the road I descended cross country past an area of large boulders and climbed the Ruins Point hills from the northeast side where the slope was gradual. There are a series of high points on Ruins Point that looked like they would make good building sites, but all I found was two rock cairns. There are good views from the hilltops but I didn’t find any Ancestral Pueblo Ruins.

Cannonball Mesa Trail

Cannonball Mesa is a narrow strip of land that divides Yellow Jacket Canyon to the north and McElmo Canyon to the south along the south edge of Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwest Colorado.  The trail is a 4WD two track road that runs for 3.5 miles and offers good views into both canyons.
The Trail Head area is 20.4 miles west of Cortez, CO along County Road G, then 1.5 miles north along a rough BLM road to a junction marked with a Park Service sign. The first part of the trail climbs slightly and then levels out on the mesa top.

The terrain is dry with scattered Pinon Pines and Utah Junipers, with areas of sage brush, greasewood, Mormon Tea, grasses, and Prickly Pear Cactus. A few cattle graze in this elevated area and there are several primitive campsites.

About 2 miles along the route is the large Cannonball Mesa Ancestral Pueblo Ruins site. This site sits at the head of a small side canyon on the Yellow Jacket side. To the south side there are the remains of a tower and the outlines of some room blocks. The large size of the overall site is a little startling.

The largest structure appears to be rectangular and sits in the middle of the site. The remaining walls seem to be very tall.

There is another tower at the back, away from the canyon rim, and another past the large rectangular building.

The site appears to spill over the rim and down the slope with some additional structures down below. The area below a spill over point is very dense with vegetation, including several trees, and appears to have a year round spring.

It is possible to descend below the rim and view these structures from a different angle. There is something of a trail down below, but in spots the vegetation is too overgrown to penetrate or see much. I checked the vertical sandstone walls that were easy to view for petroglyphs, but didn’t find any.

The trail continues for another 1.5 miles or so past the ruins site and the two canyons get closer together so that it is possible to see into both canyons at once. To the south, some of the bright green irrigated hayfields in McElmo Canyon along Road G are visible.

To the north, the meandering stream and riparian habitat stand out, There appears to be some vague roads running up Yellow Jacket Canyon. It took me about 1:00 hour of hiking to arrive at the ruins site, where I spent an hour. The additional length of the route took another 0:35 minutes of easy walking. My total hike here was 4:00 hours.

Upper Yellow Jacket Canyon Exploring

Upper Yellow Jacket Canyon is in the northern and eastern part of Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwest Colorado. There are only a few established trails in the Monument, an area rich in Ancestral Pueblo ruins sites.

I turned west on County Road X, 1 mile south of Yellow Jacket CO and then turned south on Road 19. About 100 yards south of the junction of county roads W and 19 a spur road leads west for a short distance past some hay barns. There is some room to park along the road and slip through a fence right on the north edge of the canyon head.

I might have briefly crossed over some private land. I talked to someone briefly but they only spoke Spanish. I pointed and said “Canyon” and he seemed to understand and said ok. This area is in the vicinity of the community named Yellow Jacket, north and west of Cortez along highway 491. There is a large Yellow Jacket pueblo site nearby that is located on private land.

I worked west along the canyon rim, sometimes a little below the rim, for about 0.75 miles and then came to another arm of the canyon head. There is a circular farm pond here between the forest edge and the cultivated fields.

Near the pond, there appeared to be a vague ATV trail leading to the southwest toward a rocky point. The ATV trail passes through a fence and continues. The site I found was on the tip of this rocky elevated point. This site has great views in all directions. There are some rubble piles on the top and down on the east side. The view to the east is back toward the point where I started.

There are some circular depressions on the east side where some wall sections of probably kivas are visible. To the north, Sleeping Ute Mountain is visible. The rubble piles continue down the slope and are somewhat overgrown with sage brush.

From the elevated point there is a good view further north to two more branches of the canyon head. There is another rocky point between the two branches that looks interesting but also looks harder to get to from where I started.

I explored along the east side of that area but couldn’t see anything definite. It took me about 2:00 hours of looking before I came across this site, and 0:40 minutes to return to my start point, for a total hike of 2:50 hours on a 70 F. day in April.

McLean Basin Below Pedro Point

McLean Basin is a canyon area in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwest Colorado. It is  in the vicinity of the Painted Hand Pueblo site, but located on the west side of paved County Road 10.

It is of interest as there are Ancestral Pueblo ruins tower structures known as the McLean Basin Towers. The first challenge is to find a route to hike down into the canyon basin, and the second is to find the towers.

Canyons of the Ancients is a find it on your own National Monument and there are very few official trails and limited information on where the interesting sites to hike to are located. I started my exploring at Pedro Point, where there is a good but unpublicized ruins site. This site is along the hike I call the McLean Basin South Rim Trail.

Scanning with binoculars from the canyon rim I couldn't pick out any of the elusive towers. There isn't a trail descending into McLean Basin here, but there is a drainage flowing away from the Pedro Point site that can be followed and allows a route through a steep sandstone cliff that is part of the way down the slope. The route isn't easy but is feasible.


On the flat area just below the steep cliffs, I noticed a small ruins site a little to the east of the drainage. This is still only about half the way down into the basin. This site is mostly circular and has some dry wall sections still standing, with the rest as rubble piles .

It seemed to be isolated, I didn't notice any other structures in the vicinity. There might be a grain grinding spot nearby. From here, the hiking is probably easier away from the small drainage. The slope is walkable and there are cow trails to follow down to the bottoms area where there is a flowing stream.

I crossed the small stream and made my way past a small group of cows to a road on the north side of the basin. In the center of the basin below Pedro Point there is a large hill. The road appears to be easily driveable for those who want to drive to this remote area. Scanning ahead, a rocky elevated point appeared to have some sort of organized rock pile on the top.

Climbing up to the top of this rocky point, this site looks like it could have been a large circular kiva and tower combination. It is positioned with a good view over the sage brush basin floor and the winding stream. Sage brush is supposed to indicate good soil for farming and the stream is a source of water.

Scanning around from this elevated position, it looked like there was a site on the central hill that I had just walked past. There wasn't anything visible from the steep east side where I had hiked. I didn't see anything further to the west that was close, so I retraced back along the road and climbed the hill from the easier sloping west side.This hill top site had the remains of a large circular structure with two standing piles. I had the feeling that recent visitors may have contributed to these piles, but the overall site seems genuine.

These rock piles are high enough to be seen from a distance and at least provide a clue that something is here. In this part of the McLean Basin, the findable sites are located on the high and rocky locations with good views.

I spent 4:30 hours on this hike but only covered about three miles. Most of the hike is picking a route up and down rocky slopes and I spent a lot of time scanning and viewing the sites. I didn't find the elusive McLean Basin towers this time.