It’s been Kris’ 2-year dream to visit Chaco Canyon, an archaeological site and National Park in northwest New Mexico. One might even argue it was the impetus for our trip to Santa Fe this summer. Finally, we brought that dream to fruition in one very long, very hot, very rewarding day.
We had been warned that Chaco was so remote that we would “die” there (I don’t think that warning was hyperbolic), so we set out on the 4-hour drive with two coolers and plenty of water and sunblock. Much of the drive was standard, but when we got closer to the park, the landscape became flat and desolate, and we inched slowly along a dirt road for about 20 miles. (I finally got that deep kidney massage I had been wanting.) Once we got there, however, we found the sites themselves very accessible—a comfortable visitor’s center, a friendly ranger who played the video for us ahead of schedule, and a 9-mile loop of paved road that gets you from site to site.
The ruins themselves are fine examples of 1000 year-old masonry, including many kivas, built by the ancestors of the Pueblo people. Why they picked such a remote location with so many environmental extremes (yesterday’s temp: in the 90s; winter low: 38 below!) is an unanswered question, as are many of the other specifics of their society and culture. We became experts by the end of the day, partly thanks to adorable ranger Matt, partly thanks to the fact that the body of knowledge is so limited, the self-guided brochures became a little redundant by the end.
We also saw many rabbits, lizards, and even an elk (elkette, if you will), and we stayed for the sunset and the night sky program, during which we learned about the (possibly coincidental) alignments of many of the ruins to the solstices and equinoxes. We even saw Jupiter and all four moons through a telescope (but the famed darkness of Chaco was disrupted by a very bright full moon and some persistent clouds).
Unfortunately, our arrival home at 2:30 am put everyone’s schedule off today, but it was well worth it.
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