Southwest Trip 2010 - Tuesday, March 16

 We woke up to a VERY cold morning.  Bloomfield sits at an elevation of 5500 feet and it was only the middle of March.  We took hot showers (the last for awhile) and then went back to the grocery store.  There were police in and out of the store, apparently someone had just been arrested for shoplifting.  The clerk called me "honey".  That makes about the 5,000th time that I've been called "honey" somewhere out West.   It was a very small store and I couldn't find exactly what I wanted but found enough to get by.  Next stop was the hardware store for more campstove gas and a few other things, and Marc also asked them about firewood.  They sent us to "a guy".  We got vague directions and found it, on very rutted muddy tracks on the outskirts of town.  "The guy"  (Gary) looked like a stay at home dad with a little girl and some dogs and was very quiet but very nice.  We got some juniper wood that smelled heavenly. 

We headed south towards Chaco and stopped at the good sized gas station right at the turnoff.  We got coffee, slim jims and some other snacks.  Then it was my long awaited journey down the road to Chaco Canyon.  When I was about 12, I  knew I wanted to be an archaeologist.  I read an article one Sunday in the Minneapolis Sunday paper.  The writer had worked as a volunteer at Chaco, and talked about sitting in the ruins and feeling the spirits of the long-departed people who had lived there 1,000 years before.  Her writing was so eloquent that I could close my eyes and feel like I was there, experiencing everything along with her.  I vowed then that I would get to Chaco Canyon, sometime soon. 

I've traveled a lot since then but never quite made it to what is now called Chaco Culture National Historic Park, a park that encompasses thousands of square miles and many different archaeological sites.   Chaco Canyon itself is very isolated in northwestern New Mexico, in the middle of one of those large "blank spots" on the map, only reachable by very rough, rugged, roads ortracks (depending on which way you come in).  It is often becomes impossible to get in or out after rain or snow, so you have to plan accordingly.

We drove down the road surrounded by vast, open spaces of sagebrush, rocks and a cow here and there.  Many of the cows we saw looked like they had mange or something, they had large hairless patches of skin on their bodies.  The Chuska Mountains were off in the distance to the West.  We drove down to the Chaco Wash and it was so much fun driving through that I got out to take pictures while Marc backed up and did it again. 

We had to go slow but finally reached the park sign.  We have a tradition of taking pictures at each of these.  This was by far the coolest national park sign that we've seen. 

We spotted some cliff dwellings in the low mesas as we approached the campground, which was on our right as we drove in.  We got a pretty nice campsite  (#47) in a little section of the campground that is surrounded on 3 sides by cliffs.  We discovered later that this used to be an area that the Chaco residents grew crops....water would flow off the sides of the cliff onto the crops, easy irrigation.

We set up camp and the kids were delighted about the nearby cliffs and secret passages through the rocks.  We couldn't wait to get out on the trail so we stopped at the visitor center for water  - for some reason the kids decided to be ninjas at this point, with the water bottles. 

We  headed out on the Pueblo Alto Trail.  We had obtained a backcountry permit at the visitor center. This trail starts at Kin Kletso, a ruin on the valley floor.

Kin Kletso

We saw elk tracks at the start of the hike.  There is a small herd of elk here that "wandered in, liked it, and stayed" according to the park service.  We explored the ruins and then began the hike up the steep, rocky trail that goes through a hidden crevice in the rocks.  It isn't somewhere that you would want to get caught in the rain...the water pours down that way from the mesa top.



Fossils In the Canyon Wall



What A Cool Trail!

Almost At the Top

Jack Lounging At the Top

Fossilized Prehistoric Shrimp Burrows

The view from the top of the mesa was spectacular.  There were natural cisterns, a stone circle, and fossils, such as fossilized prehistoric shrimp burrows. 



Jack In a Natural Cistern


The stone circles in Chaco always have a kiva in view.  From this one, you could see the Great Kiva at Casa Rinconada across the valley.  The circles probably had some sort of ceremonial significance and we told the kids not to walk inside of it.

Stone Circle



Jack and a Rock Cairn

 


Kin Kletso From Above

 
There is an ancient Chacoan stairway...there are several in the area as well as ramps and roads that they built.  

Chacoan Stairway



Chacoan Road


We finally reached the Pueblo Alto complex with two ruins.  Pueblo Alto means "high house" in Spanish and from it, you can see for 60 miles.  Ruins that appear to have been signal stations have been found in the area that is now known as Chaco Culture Historic Park.  Signals may have been made by fires at night and by using mica during the day.  Archaeological evidence suggests that most of the building at Pueblo Alto was used for ceremonial purposes.

Rosie at the Pueblo Alto Ruins

Me at Pueblo Alto

Looking For Pottery
(we didn't keep it)

New Alto

Me, Pueblo Alto Ruins

Broken Metate

 As we made our way back down we saw Pueblo Bonito, a very large "Great House", from above.

Great Kiva at Pueblo Bonito

View of Pueblo Bonito From Above

Chaco Canyon

The Way Down

 

This was one of the cooler trails we have hiked....I loved every second of it, and loved finally seeing a place I had dreamed about for so many years.

View From Our Campsite

Awesome Campsite in Ganado!