
Round Trip Distance: 3.1 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 5093 - 5144 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 3 hrs. 15 mins.
Trailhead: Cross Canyon
Fee: none
Attractions: Ruins and rock art











Cross Canyon crosses US-491 about 4 miles east of Dove Creek, Colorado where it runs southwest into Utah traveling through portions of the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument along the way. This post covers 5 minor ruins that can be found within the first couple miles of the Cross Canyon trail.
From Pleasant View, Colorado follow the signs toward the Lowry Pueblo for 5.45 miles and then turn left onto County Road 10 and head toward Hovenweep National Monument. About 7 tenths of a mile after crossing into Utah the Cross Canyon Road will be on the right. You can also simply enter 'Hovenweep National Monument Visitor Center' into your driving app and look for the turnoff about 2.75 miles before reaching Hovenweep. The Cross Canyon Road is signed with a white mylar marker labeled 2031.
Follow the Cross Canyon Road (2031) for about 8 tenths of a mile and you will pass a primitive campsite overlooking the canyon that is big enough for several large RV's. From there the road drops steeply into the drainage. After the road crosses a wash take the right fork and continue up canyon. Near the 6.5 mile point from the Hovenweep Road you will come to the green gate in this photo. You can either park here or continue for another quarter mile or so before the road ends and you have to begin hiking. If the road has been recently maintained 2wd vehicles should have no trouble making it this far.
The trail is mostly easy to follow as it heads north on the right side of the wash. After a quarter mile or so you should be able to spot some ruins on the right that are a couple hundred yards from the trail.
Near the 0.7 mile point from the gate there is a kiosk with some information about what is now the Cross Canyon Wilderness Study Area.
After passing the kiosk the canyon begins to become deeper and more confined.
Near the 1 mile point from the green gate at least one of several small remnants of ruins can be seen across the wash on the east side of the canyon. Getting over to them requires navigating through tangles of brush that is thick around both sides of the wash.
There are two separate ruins here along the cliff.
And at least one very small petroglyph.
After looking around these two ruins and the little petroglyph we hiked back to where the Cross Canyon Wilderness sign was and took the right fork to check out a ruin that we had noticed in that direction on the hike in.
Here there is a short wall beneath an overhang at ground level and this small granary that was built into a crevice higher up.
From there we hiked around the head of a wash to get over to the first ruins that we noticed when we first started out.
The first ruin has a couple of side walls remaining but that is about it.
There are undoubtedly even more ruins further up Cross Canyon as well as several side canyons that are also known to contain ruins. We were headed to the McLean Basin Twin Towers when we saw the Cross Canyon trailhead and decided to hike up the trail a mile or so to see what we could find. This would be an excellent canyon to go backpacking in provided you brought all the water that you would need. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.