The dogs and I spent a recent Sunday revisiting a favorite Great Sage Plain site of mine, Lightening Tree Tower (5mt1691). The tower still stands at least 15 feet high and was connected to a kiva in a typical Tower/Kiva relationship. The site is a Pueblo III site, meaning that the Anasazi lived here from 1200-1300 AD, just before their permanent abandonment.
The Tower:
The Cliff Dwelling:
It is one of the few Tower sites outside of Hovenweep National Monument, but still protected in Canyon of the Ancients National Monument. Of the top of my head, I can think of 7 other towers in the area, outside of Hovenweep, that have standing walls of at least a few meters. Similar to some, but different from many others, is that Lightening Tree Tower lies in the bottom of a shallow but wide tributary canyon. In this way, it is like Cutthroat Castle, McLean Basin and Painted Hand, but different from the typical PIII layout on a canyon rim, often surrounding a spring.
On the cliffs above the tower is a small cliff dwelling where I found a tiny positive hand pictograph. Missed this on my first two visits. We turned the outing to Lightening Tree Tower into a 5 mile round trip hike, where we walked through many mesa top, open air sites covering about 500 years of occupation.
The Tower:
The Cliff Dwelling:
I have no idea if you are still reading comments, but if so, I am wondering where Lightning Tree Tower is. Is it near the mouth of the canyon or farther upcanyon? North or south side?
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