Homolovi State Park

The Hopi trace their history through a long series of migrations, and the villages at Homolovi were among the places their clans lived along the way. Between roughly the thirteenth and late fourteenth centuries, Hopi ancestors settled here on the Little Colorado, farming cotton, corn, beans, and squash in the river bottom and building substantial pueblos of stone and adobe, some with hundreds of rooms.

In time the people moved north to the mesas where the Hopi villages stand today, some of them among the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in North America. But the ancestors were never forgotten. To the Hopi, the spirits of those who lived at Homolovi remain part of the place, and clan members still return to these sites, which is why the park is treated not as an archaeological curiosity but as a sacred and living link to the Hopi past and present.

For much of the twentieth century the Homolovi sites were badly damaged by pot hunters, people who dug illegally into the ruins in search of the fine painted pottery the villages were known for, destroying the sites in the process. The looting grew so severe that protecting what remained became urgent.

In response, Arizona established Homolovi as a state park in the 1990s, one of the first state parks created primarily to preserve a Native cultural site. The park works closely with the Hopi Tribe, which considers the villages sacred, and today the sites are protected, studied with care, and shared with visitors in a way that honors Hopi wishes. The many pottery sherds still scattered on the ground are left in place, both to preserve the record and to respect the site, a quiet reminder to take only photographs.

Homolovi lies in open, windswept high desert, a country of grass, saltbush, and low hills under an enormous sky, with the Hopi mesas visible to the north and the colored badlands of the Painted Desert not far off. The Little Colorado River winds through, often shallow or dry but capable of running strong after rain and snowmelt, the lifeline that once made farming possible here.

The wildlife is the wildlife of the high desert, pronghorn drifting across the flats, jackrabbits and cottontails, coyotes, and hawks riding the wind, with lizards and the occasional rattlesnake among the rocks. It is not a lush landscape, but it has the spare beauty of wide-open plateau country, and its dark, clear night skies make it a fine place to camp under the stars.

Spring and fall are the most comfortable times to visit, with mild days for walking the sites and cool, clear nights for camping and stargazing. Spring can be windy, as this open country often is, but the temperatures are pleasant.

Summer is hot and largely shadeless, best enjoyed in the early morning or evening, and the late-summer monsoon can bring dramatic storms sweeping across the plateau. Winter is cold, quiet, and often snow-dusted, the high desert at its most austere, and a striking time to have the ancient villages nearly to yourself.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.