Chaco Canyon National Historic Park, New Mexico

Chaco Canyon is located in the middle of nowhere at the end of a 13 mile bad road. Maybe that's why few people go there. But, if you are interested in the Ancient Puebloan culture of North America, you should go there. We spent considerable time earlier in our trip exploring cliff dwellings in Arizona and Utah, now we were in the region of the ancient great houses.Chaco Canyon is believed to have been more a cultural center than a residential center and it is widely disputed as to how many people lived there. As our Pueblo Bonito guide told us, "What we know is that people lived here, and they built big buildings". The rest is conjecture. Chaco canyon is a flat canyon bottom between low mountains. It is very dry and sparse. The campground is a short distance from the great houses, under the canyon wall.We were fortunate to meet our friends Linda & Jim and Sue & Roger from Montana who had been to Chaco before and knew the things we had to see. First on the list was a tour of Pueblo Bonito, the best restored of the great houses.Note the many round Kivas within the walls. Here's a closer look at the floor of one of the Kivas in Pueblo Bonito.Pueblo Bonito was constructed in stages between 850 and 1150 AD and was abandoned around 1200 ADThe tours took us through the ruins and into many of the several hundred rooms of the great house.Having friends along gave us a chance to socialize again since leaving Whazoo and Lynn in Arizona and it was wonderful to spend some time with good friends.The next day we took a hike along the mesa top for views into the canyon from above which gives one a much better idea of the scope of these great houses.Not to mention a chance to stretch our legs and brush up on our canyoneering skills.
As has been the norm on this trip, there was lots of wildlife and we were again fortunate to see many desert blooms.On day three we biked out a canyon road to a less rehabilitated great house called "Wijiji. Once again the amazing workmanship of these buildings was obvious. You have to be aware when you look at this that it was built over a thousand years ago and is still standing 800 years after it was abandoned.We could even see where different styles (perhaps different workmen or varied loads of rock) were seamlessly integrated into the walls.On our last day we hiked farther up the canyon to see some petroglyphs and pictographs on the canyon wall.Here's a link to the National Park Service website if you would like more information on Chaco Canyon Petroglyphs. Our final hike was a short one to see Casa Rincanada, the largest Kiva in the canyon. This Kiva stands alone on a hillside a short distance from Pueblo Bonito and (who knows why) has it's two entrances perfectly aligned East to West.
NEXT: Bandolier National Monument & Santa Fe, New Mexico