Horse Trails East of Sand Canyon

Along the south and east edge of Canyons of the Ancients National Monument near Cortez, CO, there are many rock alcoves visible from the County Road G where access is blocked by private property.

The only access for hikers in this area is the Sand Canyon Trail. There are horse trails that lead to the area east of the main Sand Canyon Trail but for a hiker it is a fairly long trek.

The most distant Ancestral Pueblo ruins site that seems to still be in hiking range is located more or less behind the Kelly Place Bed and Breakfast, maybe 1.5 miles east of the Sand Canyon Trail Head. There are two possible routes to get to this relatively large site. The longer way is to follow the main Sand Canyon Trail about 3.3 miles to the small sign that says “Sand Canyon”, then turn east off the trail and follow the unmarked East Sand Canyon Trail past three side canyons until it intersects with the drill hole service road.

Follow the drill hole road past the Mad Dog Tower site a few hundred yards to a vague two track trail. Then continue east to the small pipe lines that shoot up to the top of the mesa. There is another horse trail a few hundred yards south along the pipelines that crosses the pipelines and leads another mile or so to this site.

On a previous hike it took me 2:30 hours to get to Mad Dog Tower using the main trails and it is another 0:30 minutes to get to this eastern site. The 3:00 hours assumes that there is no stopping at the 20 or more ruins sites along the way.

An alternate way is the Mouth of Sand Canyon route that is shorter, but includes scrambling down and up the side canyons near the lower end of Sand Canyon. Climbing in and out of these side canyons is feasible, but the route isn’t marked.

There is a good alcove site in the eastern side canyon with a lookout point ruin above the alcove. The upper end of the east side canyon is near the drill hole road and a few hundred yards south of the Mad Dog Tower. From the drill hole road, find the horse trails and continue east.

The horse trails that cross the area east of Mad Dog are well marked and look like they get a lot of use. The horses seem to have an access point in the private property that is not available to hikers. The main Sand Canyon Trail area is dominated by hikers and mountain bikers, but the eastern area is the domain of horse riders.

A few hundred yards south and east of Mad Dog Tower there is another circular structure that has a dead Juniper tree in the middle of it. I missed this site when I was hiking east from Mad Dog Tower on the previous hike. It is close to the horse trail but not very near the rock face where I was looking at the alcoves.

The horse trail passes around the upper end of a deep side canyon and several empty alcoves before arriving at the site. There is a trail up to the site on the left side that enters on the left end. It looks like there are remains of three separate structures with the largest at the right end. The large structure on the right still stands tall with details of the doorway construction still visible.

I followed the Mouth of Sand Canyon route both out and back and stopped at the mouth alcove ruins and the lookout ruin above it. With another short stop at the circular neighbor of Mad Dog Tower, it took me 3:00 hours to arrive at this site. My return hike without stops took 2:00 hours and my total hike was 5:15 hours for about 6.5 miles on a 55 F blue sky day in late November. I carried and drank two liters of water.

Sand Canyon Pueblo Neighbors

At the north trail head of the Sand Canyon Trail in Canyon of the Ancients in southwest Colorado, to the west side, there is the short interpretive trail to the mostly unexcavated and large Sand Canyon Pueblo. With about 420 rooms, 100 kivas and 14 towers it is larger than the spectacular Cliff Palace at nearby Mesa Verde.

There is also an unpublicized site on the east side of the canyon rim near the trail head that spills over the rim into some of the alcoves just below the rim. This site is only 100 yards or so off the trail but is not visible from the trail. It is fairly easy to hike over and view this site. These sites at the Sand Canyon trail head rest on the Dakota Sandstone layer.

The structures on the rim mostly appear as rubble piles, similar to the Sand Canyon Pueblo. Below the rim, there are some alcove wall sections that are similar to the alcove sites at the lower end of Sand Canyon. I haven’t spotted any alcove structures below the rim at the main Sand Canyon Pueblo from the main interpretive trail.

The below the rim area can be reached from the main trail by descending about 10 feet, then turning off the trail and working your way east. There may be a few rock cairns to guide the way. The rubble pile ruins start to appear before reaching the alcove. Looking inside, there are some roof beams still in place. Just to the east of the alcove, there is a notch that allows passage to or from the rim.

The rim structures don’t seem to be as overgrown as the Sand Canyon Pueblo sites, fewer trees coming up through them. This is a smaller site and there is a definite gap between the east site and the main site. I noticed a small hiker’s collection of pot shards on display. There aren’t any interpretive signs at the east site and there isn’t a trail to follow, but the distance is short.

Cahone Trail to Cross Canyon

The Cahone Trail is an officially unnamed access route into the often difficult to access Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwest Colorado.

The trail head is 4 miles west from Highway 491, along County Road R from the small town of Cahone, Colorado. This canyon area is part of the Cahone Canyon Wilderness Study Area.

Road R reaches a dead end at a brown easy to open gate. An old two track road leads northwest, easily down into a side canyon of the upper end of Cross Canyon. It is about 1.5 miles of hiking to the main Cross Canyon. The junction of the side canyon with Cross Canyon is a broad flat area of sagebrush fields with several other side canyons meeting at the same point. The old road continues to the north.

Three deeply cut washes join at this point with a small flow of water at the bottom. I chose to hike south and followed cow trails down into and across the wash over to the west side. About 0.3 miles south there is a short side canyon on the west that seemed to offer the cliffs and large boulder foundations often associated with Ancestral Pueblo ruins sites.

I scanned the cliff areas with binoculars and didn’t see anything but decided to climb up anyway. I made my way up the side canyon below the rim and passed many locations that looked like good building sites but didn’t find anything except good views to the south.

At the upper end of the side canyon I descended down the rocky wash and returned to the bottom. Scanning again with binoculars I saw a wall section under a rocky overhang nearly all the way to the rim. So I had to climb up a second time.

The wall fragment is hidden by trees and boulders and is visible only from the right angle, but the rock overhand covering the site is clear from many angles. I could only see an entrance into this protected site from the left side. There is a small fragment to the left of the remaining wall, suggesting that the whole open front was once walled in.

I slithered along the front of the site avoiding the steep drop off to look at the right side. On the right side there is a dry wall perimeter structure that is standing up well. I saw a corn cob along the way.

Further to the right there are two smaller wall fragments in small alcoves. I didn’t see a way to exit from the right side and had to return the way I came back to the left side of the site. This was the only site I saw in this area, but they are often hidden and easy to miss. At the canyon bottom near the side canyon junction there is a rubble pile that may be a site but it wasn’t very definite.

I spent about 3:30 hours hiking and climbing to find this site though the distance was only about 2 miles. The return hike took 1:15 hours for a total hike of 4:45 hours for about 4 miles. It was a 65 F degree mid October day and I carried 3 liters of water. There are many more locations to explore in this area, both up and down Cross Canyon.

I thought it odd at the time, but there are initials “JW” inscribed on the back wall of this site. This is a remote, hard to find site so why would there be graffiti here? After viewing a similar “JW” on the right end the well known Spruce Tree House ruin at Mesa Verde, it occurred to me that JW could be John Wetherill, one of the famous Wetherills that were instrumental in the development of Mesa Verde and other Four Corners ruins sites as places of major interest.

So John Wetherill may have visited this otherwise obscure site and left an historic inscription. Besides exploring the Cahone Trail, John Wetherill established trading posts in southeast Utah and led expeditions into the backcountry near Navajo National Monument, Monument Valley and Rainbow Bridge National Monument. I didn’t see a year carved here but one could guess around 1890.

Mouth of Sand Canyon Trail

The Sand Canyon Trail in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, in southwest Colorado, runs 6.5 miles north and south on the west side of Sand Canyon and passes many small Ancestral Pueblo Ruins sites.

About 3.3 miles up the trail there is a side trail to the east side of Sand Canyon that leads to several more sites. One of these sites is in a side canyon that is back toward the south end of Sand Canyon near the canyon mouth. (In 2011, this area off the Sand Canyon Trail might be considered closed.)

On this hike I was looking for a route across Sand Canyon that was closer to the south trail head. The south trail head is 12 miles west of Cortez along County Road G. From the south trail head I hiked about 0.5 miles to the end of the first spur trail on the west side. There is a distinctive rock formation at this point.

From there I hiked east for another 0.5 miles through the Pinon Pine and Utah Juniper forest to the edge of Sand Canyon. From the canyon rim the ruins site I was heading for is visible in the side canyon on the east side. At the view point the canyon is very steep and deep.

Back to the south a short distance there is a side canyon on the west side that offers a possible route into the main canyon. This side canyon has its own side canyon on the north and I was able to find a way there down to the bottom. Near the bottom I spotted a rebar stake that looks like something the archaeologists install to mark a site. There was a south facing alcove in the vicinity but I didn’t see any obvious ruins.

Once reaching the side canyon bottom the walking is fairly easy toward the main canyon. In the main Sand Canyon there is a vague horse trail leading up the canyon. At first, from above and below it is hard to see how anyone entered this site. It is a total hike of about 1.5 miles to get to the point below the ruins site.

After viewing the site from below, I looked to see if the East Sand Canyon area could be reached by climbing out of this side canyon. It is possible to climb to the east canyon rim area going up the east side canyon. The route requires a little scrambling but is not too bad. I climbed up the south side of the canyon before reaching the canyon head. From above, I could see the ledge that offers a route toward the alcove. It looks like there is a section just before the alcove that might be treacherous.

It also looks like there is a ramp leading to the rim from the ledge. On a later hike, I walked up the ledge and was able to enter the ruin. There is a notch that allows climbing into the site. I looked at the ramp and it looked too risky for one person to try alone. Perhaps two persons together could help each other up.

Looking back at the alcove from up the canyon I had noticed a wall fragment above it and to the left. I don’t think this wall section is visible from the west side angle. It looks like a castle rock type of site is above.

On the later hike I climbed out of the canyon on the north side near the canyon head and was able to get closer to this site. The wall section appears to be part of an isolated lookout tower. I didn’t see any other structures up on top. It is possible to climb in or out of the east side canyon on either the north or south sides, but there isn’t a marked route.

From this area it is about 0.25 miles east to the drill hole service road and the vicinity of the sites near and east of the Mad Dog Tower site. I returned to the main trail head using the 1.5 mile drill road route, but this road passes through a short section of private property.

My total first hike was about 3 miles and took 3:00 hours on a 70 F degree early October day. The revisit hike was on a 50 F degree day in late November and I spent some time getting closer to these two sites.

Mad Dog Tower Trail

The Mad Dog Tower is in the Sand Canyon area of Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwest Colorado. It is vaguely visible east of the Saddle Horn Ruin along the 6.5 mile Sand Canyon Trail about 1 mile north from the South Trail Head.

I started my hike at the South Trail Head and walked about 3.3 miles north past the last of the 10 or so small ruins sites in the lower part of the canyon. As the trail passes a small sign that says “Sand Canyon”, an unmarked side trail that I call the East Sand Canyon Trail turns back south on the east side of the canyon. The East Sand Canyon Trail passes by three side canyons that have at least seven more small ruins sites. (In 2011, this side trail off the Sand Canyon Trail is considered closed.)

The East Sand Canyon Trail exits at the head of the third side canyon and connects to the drill hole service road. The Mad Dog Tower is very close to the east side of the road. I walked right past it when I hiked in this area before, but it can be seen from the road. Excavation work on this site found a room block, an earth walled kiva with a tunnel and a trash pile midden, but these features aren’t visible on the surface.

I saw a story that the students working on the site were chased by dogs as they traveled to the site every day and named the site Mad Dog in honor of these dogs. It took me 1:30 hours to cover the 3.3 miles to the beginning of the East Sand Canyon Trail and another 1:00 hour to arrive at the Mad Dog site. I didn’t stop to view any of the other sites along the way on this hike.

While in this area I explored the alcove areas to the east of Mad Dog. The first area to the east had a small alcove to the left, a larger one in the middle and another large on the right. I could see a small wall section in the smallest of the three possible locations.

There is a hikeable route along the left near the sandstone wall. The interior of the small opening appeared to be covered with soot. The other two alcoves in this area appeared to be empty.

Further east there are some odd pipes approaching from the south that shoot right up to the top of the mesa. These are probably associated with the gas plant that is east of the trail head area. It looks like horse riders use the pipeline route as a trail. There are one or two small sites in the area to the right of the pipelines.

A rough trail leads from the pipes across this rubble strewn area toward the small wall section on the left side of the formation. There is another small wall fragment directly across on the right. This site is about 0.5 miles east of the Mad Dog Tower. I turned around here and followed a two track road that connects back to the drill hole service road at a point a few hundred yards south of the Mad Dog Tower. There are more alcoves and possible ruins sites to the east of where I stopped.

I followed the drill hole road back to the connection with County Road G that is 0.5 miles east of the trail head parking, slipping through a section of private property. There is a locked gate along the drill hole road that prevents motorized access to this area of Canyons of the Ancients. After the 2:30 hours to arrive at Mad Dog I spent 1:00 hour exploring to the east and the return hike took 1:00 hour. My total hike was 4:30 hours on a 70 F degree day in late September. I carried two liters of water.