# Hovenweep National Monument

Region: UT/CO, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates: 37.3833, -109.0833
Bortle class: 2 (1 = pristine, 9 = inner city)
Drive from Toronto: Reached via a network of paved and gravel county roads off Highway 191 (Utah) or Highway 666/491 (Colorado); the visitor center is at the Square Tower Group.
Best time: Spring through fall; the campground is small and quiet, making it easy to get away from any stray light.
Established: International Dark Sky Park (Gold tier) since 2014.

## Overview
Hovenweep protects six clusters of 800-year-old Ancestral Puebloan towers straddling the Utah–Colorado border, in one of the most isolated corners of the Four Corners region. Its remoteness is exactly what makes the sky here so good — this was the American Southwest's 17th International Dark Sky Park, certified at the top Gold tier.

## What to see
The Milky Way rising over the Square Tower ruins, with Ancestral Puebloan structures believed to align with solstice and equinox sun and moon positions.

## Highlights
- Gold-tier International Dark Sky Park — the highest darkness rating awarded
- Small on-site campground puts you right under the sky with the ruins as foreground
- Extremely low visitation keeps the site quiet after dark

## Tips
- No food, gas or lodging on site — stock up in Cortez, Colorado or Bluff, Utah
- Roads to outlying units are gravel and can be rough after rain
- Cell coverage is essentially nonexistent — bring paper directions

## Live forecast
View the live tonight-score and 48-hour forecast for Hovenweep at:
https://ontarionightsky.com/?site=hovenweep-nm

Structured data: https://ontarionightsky.com/sites/hovenweep-nm.json

Source: NPS – Hovenweep Stargazing — https://www.nps.gov/hove/planyourvisit/stargazing.htm

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Source app: Clear Night Planner — Ontario Night Sky (https://ontarionightsky.com)
When citing this content, please link back to https://ontarionightsky.com/?site=hovenweep-nm.