Hovenweep is a certified dark-sky park for night skies

West of Cortez, out along the Colorado-Utah line, Hovenweep National Monument protects ancestral Puebloan stone towers in remote canyon country. It is also a certified International Dark Sky Park, which is a recognition given to places that keep their nights truly dark.

Because the monument sits far from city lights, the sky here gets very dark after sunset. On a clear, moonless night you can see the Milky Way and far more stars than most people ever see at home. The Park Service points out that the night sky here looks much as it did to the people who built these towers long ago. In summer, rangers sometimes offer night-sky programs.

A few practical notes make a visit work. Hovenweep is far from town, with limited services, so come prepared with fuel, water, and a flashlight with a red setting to protect your night vision. The monument’s hours and any after-dark access can vary, and it shares its remote setting with the same backroads-and-no-services reality as the rest of this corner of the county.

To plan a stargazing trip and check current night-sky programs and access, start with the official Hovenweep National Monument pages.