Chaco Canyon -- Amazing Place

After some 3 hours of driving from the campground here outside Albuquerque -- including some 16 miles of wash board dirt roads which had us much of the time not getting above 10 mph -- we reached the paved roads in the park and the modern facilities of the campground were the second stop (after the entrance sign above).

After using the restrooms we (Marilyn and I) headed for the first pullout at Fajada Butte Overlook where we stopped to take in the view and read the signage there.

Our next stop was the Visitor Center to find out more than we gleaned from the brochure I had obtained at the Petroglyph Visitor Center about a week ago.  As expected, the person at the Visitor Center recommended seeing Pueblo Bonito  for sure and even mentioned there would be a guided tour at 2:00 p.m.  The first hike we decided to do was to the Petroglyphs near the Visitor Center and we did that right after getting a quick bite to eat from our backpacks and small cooler -- water bottles filled too. 

After that short hike and the short climb to the canyon face where the Petroblyphs were, we headed on the oneway road to Pueblo Bonito and parked the Jeep.  We hiked and climbed around Pueblo Bonito and Marilyn read all the highlighted copy for each of the numbered stops along the trail.  Simply Amazing that all this was built 1000 to 1300 years ago.  From there a short trail led to Chetro Ketl -- which the person at the visitor center also told us about.  First we had a picnic lunch at the one picnic table near the parking area -- fed the little birds and numerous litte chipmunk-like squirrels that came from all around when we arrived at the table.

 

The Chacoans were master masons and the hundreds of years of construction on all these structures is mind boggling.  The detail and planning for these 4 and 5 story great houses with nearly 600 rooms would seemingly have called for one great master plan but, there were no blueprints left behind.  Only best guesses have been offered by archaelogists and other experts in the field.  It must have been magnicent to see all these structures when they were occupied by all of the thousands of people -- our talented and hard working Native Americans.

 

What a dream and what a vision they had way back then and the hundreds of miles of roads they built too for all the people who came from as far away as Mexico (most likely farther too).  As we visited site after site and saw more great houses and great kivas, it was inspiring and hard to imagine all of them somehow connected together at one time.

I took over 120 picures as we walked around and through some of the structures and these few don't even begin to show all that we saw.  The details and the great kivas where they worshipped were all so varied and so different in their construction -- some with columns, some with pilasters, some with benches and pits.  Truly amazing and worth the bumpy ride on that dirt road leading in (CR7950).

 

 

After touring Chetro Ketl and seeing some Navajo masons doing repairs or restoration, we headed to the farthest parking area near Pueblo del Arroyo (Spanish for "village by the wash") where again we hiked through and around this great house -- thought to be home to at least a few Indian tribes such as the Hopi, Pueblo and Navajo as they made their way on their migration paths.  Before we made our way back along that wash board road and to our campground, we made another stop and did a short hike around the lower sections of the Casa Rinconada Community at the base of the South Mesa of the canyon.  The Greatest Kiva there was one of the most impressive we had seen. 

 

Since the winds were picking up and the threat of rain looked imminent we decided not to do the 3.6 mile hike up to the top of the South Mesa and Tslin Kletsin.  The Chacoan Stairway that we saw as we started the trip back may have been an indication of the challenge we might have faced on the trail up the South Mesa (or down) so we may not have been ready for that hike anyway -- though the view from the top of the mesa would probably have been spectacular and awe inspiring.  Maybe another time.