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We left Cortez looking for Yucca House National Monument, but never found it. Apparently it's a pile of rubble somewhere with no signs telling where it is. So we turned onto an unknown road (no name or highway number) and followed the sparse signs to Hovenweep National Monument. We did manage to find it after a pretty, but sometimes bumpy ride along McElmo Canyon. From the visitor center we walked a paved path to the Stronghold House overlook where we could see several of the houses across Little Ruin Canyon. These were dwellings of some of the same Ancient Pueblan peoples who inhabited Mesa Verde several hundred years ago. Most of the houses were built on the cliff edges. My favorite was "Eroded Boulder House," which was built under an eroded boulder.
From Hovenweep we took another unknown road through Navajo lands to numbered roads (state highways) that eventually led us to Natural Bridges National Monument. There we viewed the three natural bridges formed by the force of moving water against the sandstone forming White and Armstrong Canyons. The bridges have been called by several different names over the years, but are now known by Hopi names: Sipapu, Kachina, and
Owachomo. Sipapu is the highest and widest; its name means "the place of emergence" because the Hopi believe their ancestors came into this world through that entryway. Kachina is named for the symbols on its rocks and is still being enlarged by White Canyon floodwaters. Owachomo means "round mound" for a rock formation on its east side that looks an awful lot like a giant dinosaur manure pile.
I still think Utah is a magnificent place, with such a variety of natural beauty.
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Hovenweep Natl Monument
mary saylor
non-member comment
howdy
Why don't you swing down to Phoenix? Mary