Chaco Canyon

[Handlebars]

The epicenter of an Anasazi culture spread across 30,000 square miles of high desert was located in NE New Mexico. I had read and seen quite a few interpretations of what is there. Almost everything about the Chacoans is debated. Only 2 things are clear- people lived here 1000 years ago and they built some monumental structures. Great houses containing hundreds of rooms, 3 and 4 stories high. Roads that follow straight lines despite geographical barriers. Glyphs and architecture that demonstrate sophisticated understanding of celestial mechanics that could only be learned after decades of careful observation of the sky. All built before the advent of metal tools and draft animals, by a people who left no apparent written language. Every stone, every log, every yard of dirt moved on the bare backs of human labor across dozens of miles. Faithful to an elaborate master plan over a period of hundreds of years. For what purpose? And why did they abandon the product of generations of sweat and blood? Why invest so much effort to create what they did on this particular patch of cold, dry sand? There are many theories but we may never know what really happened here. I hoped that by seeing it for myself I could gain a better understanding of who these people were.

My wife loves a good mystery so she joined me on a weekend investigation. Compared to most trips we take this one was a piece of cake. It was a simple overnighter, a mere 2 ½ hours from home. We threw a few things into the back of the Jeep and headed northwest on a cool June morning. Always looking for navigational challenges I took a more direct route through the Checkerboard Reservation, rather than the recommended route up 550 to Nageezi. We shaved 10 miles off the normal route and got to see some new scenery. Most of the road was paved although there was a strange part of BIA 9 that was alternately paved, then gravel, then paved, back-n-forth at ¼ mile intervals. Herds of sheep, goats, cows & horses and the occasional hitchhiking Navajo were the only other obstacles on the road. The first order of business upon our mid morning arrival was to secure a campsite. The only camping for 20 miles or so is in the park campground at Gallo Wash.

This trip also had me feeling photographically adventurous. I set my camera to monochrome and used nothing but my 50mm lens. Black and white just really seemed to suit the subject matter. The fixed focal length also forced me to really think about what I was going to put in the frame. Looking back at the resulting photos I made the right choice.

The visitor center is currently being remodeled, there is a yurt for a temporary HQ. We paid our entrance fee there and started the one way park loop road. First stop was Hungo Pavi.

That funny looking corrugated part of the canyon wall behind the ruined great house is a stairway on one of the arrow straight Chacoan roads. The cliff was not an obstacle to these people.

Hungo Pavi also has the original interior finish on display in a room that is protected by a roof and a glass door. The walls were plastered and whitewashed.

The floor:

Chetro Ketl's great kiva. The sandstone discs went in the circular holes to serve as foundations for the roof support columns. Each disc weighs a ton, 4 were placed in alternating layers with clay in between the discs under each pillar. Archeologists found a small bag containing offerings underneath everything in one of the holes.

All of the great houses had self-guided trail booklets but we took the opportunity to go for a tour of Pueblo Bonito with Ranger Joe.

The largest of great houses is seen in the background, along with the rock that peeled off the canyon wall in 1941, smashing dozens of rooms. There were stone buttresses holding up the rock indicating that the Chacoans knew that the wall was in danger of falling but built the house in that location despite the threat.

The Chacoans were much shorter than contemporary humans.

The only excavations currently taking place are done by the huge local ants. This tiny bead was found in an ant hill in Pueblo Bonito.

This is the oldest section of Pueblo Bonito, known as Old Bonito. It was started in the 9th century and construction continued until 1150AD. The evolution in masonry techniques is apparent. The foreground wall is the oldest, using lots of mortar and poorly shaped stone. The rear wall displays improving masonry from the bottom towards the top. This was all covered with adobe plaster after construction.

A look at the finely shaped stones that were used in the latest style of masonry at Bonito, known as Type 4.

Pueblo Bonito sprawls across 2 acres, a large building even by modern standards.

 

[Handlebars]

Core and veneer construction was designed from the start to support 3 stories. The base was wide and the walls tapered in width at each level, reducing the weight of the construction. The core consisted of random stones and rubble, the surface blocks were selected and shaped for a uniform size and shape. All of this was then covered with mud plaster, hiding the beautiful craftsmanship.

Three story blocks facing the rear of the central plaza.

Everything on this plaque can be disputed, other than the dates and the people. The passage of time brings new theories and new archeological techniques. The concrete used by the original excavators to stabilize the walls is one big mistake that everyone decries. Modern archeologists completely back fill the excavated ruins with sand, leaving a weedy mound behind as the only sign of their research.

G.B. Cornucopia, Park Ranger talks about his climb up Fajada Butte, location of the Sun Dagger petroglyph. This glyph near the top of the butte seems to be an astronomical meter, indicating the exact time of the solstices and equinoxes, as well as marking the 18 ½ year lunar cycle. At least it used to, until one of the rocks shifted in the mid 80’s rendering it useless. This event sparked much debate over the purpose of the site. How do we know that the rocks have not moved in the 900 years or so between the time when the last Chacoan left this area and now?

The whole area is off limits now but it was definitely important to the Chacoans. All roads lead to Chaco Canyon, one of those roads lead directly to and up Fajada Butte. In this view from another angle you can see the eroded remains of a dirt ramp on the right side of the butte. There was a stairway carved into the cliff to get from the ramp to the top. All of that dirt was carefully and deliberately piled up, one man sized load at a time.

There are also several eroded buildings on the upper reaches of the butte, as well as pottery spanning the entire Chacoan era. This place was very important to the people. Was it an altar of worship? An observatory? A guard tower? A spaceship dock? Nobody knows.

No visitors are allow outside of the campground after dark, here is one last look at Fajada Butte from the campground overlook trail before the sun went down.

A half full Gallo Campground. The 2 group sites are unoccupied to the right. Most people set up camp to the left where the cliff wall gave shelter from the setting sun, but not from the driving wind of a passing cold front.

We slept in the back of the Jeep but even that was rocking in the wind. I turned it around, nose to the wind to get a calm night’s sleep. The tents next to us were frequently flattened by the gusts but were staked down well enough to prevent their blowing away.

The following morning we got up at first light in order to hike to the Pueblo Bonito overlook before the heat of the day built up. Thanks to the passing storm it was a balmy 46 degrees when we left, too cold for us to eagerly hike in our summer outfits. So we drove to Pueblo Del Arroyo, ate some bagels in the parking lot and went for a hike once the sun cleared the canyon rim. Here is an unusual triple walled kiva found there:

One of the problems of maintaining excavated ruins is managing runoff. Several ruins had roofs and rain gutters installed for drainage.

A reconstructed example of great house flooring.

We got lost on our way to the overlook. Some maps show a note, “no access to Chaco from the north on BIA 57”. We ended up hiking that old road bed for a while before I realized my error but saw some neat stuff along the way. Chaco Canyon has a resident elk herd, we followed them for a while by mistake.

Strange rock formation along the way.

On the way back we took a look at Kin Kletso. It had an unusual rectangular floor plan while most other great houses were D-shaped.

 

[Handlebars]

Wandering around Kin Kletso I stumbled across the trail leading up the cliff to the Pueblo Bonito overlook hidden right behind it. I scrambled up to the top of the cliff for a brief look at downtown Chaco. From just above Kin Kletso, Pueblo Bonito is seen to the left, Pueblo Del Arroyo is to the right and the great kiva of Casa Rinconada is just above that, across the canyon. Chetro Ketl is hidden around the corner to the left of Bonito.

It just boggled my mind to think about the sheer human effort required to construct all of this with bare hands in a dry valley over a mile above sea level. Were these thousands of people of a common mind and common goal through dozens of generations? Or was it the simple obsession of a ruling elite driving slave labor? I am no closer to understanding the Chaco Phenomenon now than before my visit.

One last stop before leaving the park- the great kiva of Casa Rinconada- one of the largest in the Chacoan world.

Driving back home one benefit of our shortcut was the close proximity of one of 75 outlying Chacoan great houses.

Pueblo Pintado is set high on a hill overlooking Chaco Wash and many miles of the surrounding landscape.

No rangers or other tourists where here but for some reason I wondered if I could be saving money on my car insurance.

There is still more for me to see on a future trip to Chaco. Visiting it firsthand did not give me any better idea of why they created this empire of stone. But it did give me a new respect for what determined humans can create with their bare hands in a hostile environment given a common goal, even if it takes hundreds of years to accomplish the task. It made our modern 4 year political cycles seem pathetically ineffective by comparison.

 

[jakeWI]

Great write up! Very impressive. I have only seen the ruins around Mesa Verde. I am going to put these on a list of must sees.

 

[old_man]

When did you do this trip? I am thinking of heading down that way to wander around in the next few weeks.

 

[lazyxj]

Chaco is my favorite park in the lower 48. It is a mind boggling place. Hauling in the huge amounts food and wood used in the construction, in a culture that did not have the wheel, is almost inconceivable. I would love to have a time machine, to be able to see it a thousand years ago.
Last time we were there, we spent a whole day out at the west end of the park wandering around the unexcavated ruins and didn't see anyone all day.

Both of the roads, into and out are terrible, beating our small motor home badly. Almost lost the towed XJ when the 4 hitch bolts loosened and 2 fell out. Much more fun driving the XJ.
The bad roads also keep the crowds and tours buses out so it's OK with us.
For those who have not been there, spring and fall are the best times to visit. It gets very hot in the summer and windy, below freezing weather in the winter. No services are available and the only potable water is in the campground.
Ranger Cornucopia gives an excellent evening astronomy talk at the visitor's center and they have a good size telescope available for viewing the dark skies.
Thanks for the photos.

 

[DaveW]

Nice trip and great pics as usual.
I would like to see that place in person.