Around 10:30 a.m. we drove south from Blanding on Highway 163, about 12 miles, to its junction with Highway 262. The road is well marked to the Hovenweep National Monument. It is paved all of the way to the Square Towers Visitor Center portion of the Monument. We arrived at about 11:30 a.m., and there were nice covered picnic tables, so we had our lunch before going into the Visitor Center. They have modern rest rooms and drinking water.

This is a fee area, so we used our Golden Eagle. The fee would have been $6.00 per person. The GPS coordinates for the parking lot are: N 37 23 186; W 109 04 546; elevation: 5,251 feet.

We got some trail information from the Ranger and then did the two mile loop trail which takes you around the majority of the ancient dwellings along Little Ruin Canyon. There are round and square towers, kivas, dwellings, and all sorts of other ruins in the area. There is a steep descent and climb at first, but then the rest of the walk is fairly flat, though exposed. In the autumn the weather was comfortable, but in the summer months it could be quite warm. The only problem that we experienced was the low angle of the sun making it difficult to view anything when we were looking south, which, it seemed, was a great deal of the time.

We spotted a pigmy prairie rattler along the west side of the Hovenweep Castle. It was all stretched out and buzzing, even when we were about 15 feet away. It never coiled, but it was quite annoyed that we were around.

A bit farther on, between Tower Point and the cutoff trail between Hovenweep Castle and the main trail, we spotted another pigmy prairie rattler. This one was a bit smaller, and was all coiled in the traditional defensive stance, with its little tail sticking up and ready to buzz. But it never really rattled, except once.

We reported both to the Ranger when we passed the Visitor Center on the way out.

After we left the Little Ruin Canyon area we drove north on the dirt road to the Horseshoe and Hackberry and Holly sites. The side road is not obviously marked, but there is a thin brown plastic government sign with the number 4721 printed on it. This side road is about four miles from the entrance to the Square Tower area. The road is very rutted and I would recommend that only high clearance vehicles take this route. There was quite a bit of bouncing around. The trailhead to Horseshoe and Hackberry is clearly marked. The GPS coordinates are: N 37 24 551; W 109 02 010. The trail is about one mile round trip. We were there about 3:30 p.m. There appears to be some way to drive into the area, since there was a turn around in two spots, and a pit toilet along the trail. But we could not find the way in via vehicle.

We continued on down the rutted road to the Holly Unit. There are some real tough spots to navigate, especially on the way out. We arrived there about 4:06 p.m. The trail to the ruins is about 100 yards from the parking area. Again there is a pit toilet at the trailhead.

There is also a four mile trail from these ruins to the Square Towers Ruins area and the Visitor Center. The GPS coordinates are: N 37 23 992; W 109 02 413; elevation: 5382.

From there we retraced our route back to the main dirt road and drove north to the Cutthroat Castle site. This turnoff is again not marked. It is about 4.5 miles from the Horseshoe and Hackberry turnoff. It is marked by a BLM sign for the Painted Hand ruins. Again, this is a nasty road, with lots of ruts and rock outcrops. We arrived at the trailhead at 5:25 p.m.

You can either drive down to a parking area closer to the Cutthroat Castle, or park higher up at a trailhead and walk 1.6 mile round trip, down to the ruins. This is not a difficult hike, although it is uphill on the return trip. It passes through a pinyon-juniper forest and then follows a wash along to the ruins. The wash can be a bit confusing, so follow the cairns when they are available.

The GPS coordinates are: N 37 26 775; W 108 58 405; elevation: 6,013 feet. On the way out we almost squished a Jerusalem Cricket crossing the road.

On the way out we pulled into the parking area for the Painted Hand Pueblo, and even though the site is only .25 miles down a path, we opted to skip it for this day, knowing that the sun was going down and we still had a long drive back to Blanding. We left the area at 5:37 p.m.

The whole BLM area in this part of Colorado is called the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument. But we don't know anything more about that, other than the sign looks new.