Homol’ovi State Park

The most prominent thing about this park are the wide open spaces.

But there is a lot hidden in plain sight, like the herd of wild burros we see one place or another each day.

And this rather beautiful Visitors’ Center…

with these stunning stone walls.

There are also two ancient villages of the Hisat’sinom people that you can visit. These are the ancestors of the Hopi people that still live at Second Mesa, sixty miles north of here.

The park was developed with the cooperation of the Hopi’s to preserve the sacred places. The flags are the US flag, the Hopi flag and the Arizona flag.

There are few remaining walls at Homol’ovi I, but you are allowed to wander the site…

where shards of pottery are everywhere.

You are not allowed to take anything and people seem to cooperate, instead placing their finds on flat rocks where others can see them.

This site was settled in the thirteenth century and had about 1100 rooms. It was abandoned by 1400,

possibly due to frequent flooding by the Little Colorado River, which drew the people here in the first place.

Besides pottery we found stones that appear to have been worked.

We also visited Homol’ovi II. This site had more of the old walls showing,

including this kiva.

But here you are restricted to the sidewalks.

The site was extensively vandalized before the creation of the park.

Both sites are fenced…

and have cattle guards at their entrances to protect them from the wandering burros.

Our third exploration was on the Tso’vo Trail. The name means path of the rattlesnakes.

The stony hill we walked on looked like a very snakey place, but it’s still very cold here, so no snakes are out.

We did find some faded petroglyphs, which are faint even with enhancement.

This was the clearest one.

We also found these shards strewn down the side of the hill. We think they might be petrified wood.

We’ve enjoyed wandering about here, despite the cold.