Chaco Culture National Historical Park

Chaco Culture National Historical Park was created in 1907 as Chaco Canyon National Monument.  It became Chaco Culture National Historical Park in 1980 and, in 1987, a World Heritage Site. It has been on our itinerary many times on previous trips, but heck.  It is difficult to get here! And there are no good camp sites close by.  We left our rig parked at Aztec (a good hours drive north) and made this a day trip.  And it was a really great trip once we got past the gravel roads!

From AD 850 to 1250, Chaco was a hub of ceremony, trade, and administration for the prehistoric Four Corners area - unlike anything before or since.  Chaco is remarkable for its multi-storied public buildings, ceremonial buildings and distinctive architecture.  These structures required considerable planning, designing, organizing of labor, and engineering to construct.  These people combined many elements:  pre-planned architectural designs, astronomical alignments, geometry, landscaping, and engineering to create an ancient urban center of spectacular public architecture.  And it still awes and inspires us a thousand years later!

We made it in time for a 10 am Ranger Guided tour of Pueblo Bonito.  This was the core of the Chaco complex and the largest great house.  It was built in stages between the mid 800s and early 1100s.  It reached at least 4 stories with over 600 rooms and 40 kivas.

How cool to see all of these doorways!

We had a great ranger led tour. Found out a lot of things we didn't know and didn't understand.  The vandalism and early architects from the late 1800s to early 1900s really made a mess of some of this site.

I think we are a little larger than they were!

One of the ceremonial kivas.  The fire pit is in the middle square with a circle.  You can see where the massive timbers were.

Took a lot of work. 

The builders gathered an estimated 225,000 trees from forests about 60 miles away. They would cut, peel and allow them to dry to reduce their weight. Can you imagine the team work involved to get them here?  Realize this is before they had horses......

Some of the petroglyphs

Fajada Butte 6623 ft

Picnic time!!!!

Picnic and refreshments are needed!

I do highly recommend this place.  I guess you can say that half the adventure is just getting here!  1,100 to 1,200 years ago Native people made this high desert valley the center of their world. They created monumental architecture and developed far reaching commerce and a complex social organization. This was a sacred place.  So glad we finally made it here!

Next up our road trip takes us to Arizona!