A Journey to Chaco Canyon

Background

My brother had driven across the country a few times in the 90s when he was stationed in southern California while in the Marine Corps. One of the stories he told me from his trip was of this place called Chaco Canyon. He told me about how it was in the middle of nowhere, you could only get to it by driving on dirt roads and that hardly anyone knew about it. I’m guessing that those stories both contributed to my wanting to go on the road trips I’ve gone on over the past handful of years, and today I finally made it to Chaco Canyon myself.

The Journey

Visiting Chaco Canyon on this trip was only second to viewing the eclipse in Utah, so I wanted to make sure that I got there with plenty of time and sunlight to see as much of it as I could in one day. This meant being in my car and actively driving towards the park by 8 AM sharp, which I managed to do. There are two ways to get to Chaco Canyon. The southern entrance was much closer to me but required 2-3 times as much back road driving, some of which could be impassable if conditions are right, according to the park’s website. The northern entrance is reached via county roads from Nageezi, New Mexico, which required me to drive all the way around the park. This wouldn’t have been that bad if Google Maps hadn’t continually re-routed me to the point of frustration and led me to just use Apple Maps, which turned-out to be the better decision.

Once I reached Nageezi, the fun began and I was reassured with my decision to trade-in the GTI for the Crosstrek. The first 5 or 6 miles of CR 7900 were asphalt which turned into dirt and stone roads for about 15 miles. Then, there was a sign that stated that I was entering a portion of road which was no longer maintained by the county, and the park’s description of the 5 mile stretch as “extremely rough and possibly impassable if wet” immediately became clear. This final stretch was a mixture of bare stone, washboard dirt roads and crumbling everything. Now, I saw people in Hyundai sedans coming back from Chaco Canyon, so I know my new car with all-terrain tires isn’t necessary, but I felt a lot better for them. After a 45 minute trek from the highway, I’d finally arrived at Chaco Culture NHS.

Touring The Pueblos

The primary feature of Chaco Canyon are the multitude of pueblos. The canyon was the center of trade, culture and religious activity in the southwest about 1300 years ago, so there are the ruins of numerous, massive structures throughout the park. The biggest is Pueblo Bonito, which is a D-shaped ruin that housed housing, shrines and kivas. The loop road passes a handful of these ruins and I stopped to view each of them, taking the time to walk through the ruins that were open to the public. The intricacy of the architecture is astounding and it was fun to see some of the features, like the kivas and T-shaped doorways, that I’d read so much about.

An Arduous Hike

As I said, I made sure to make it to the park with plenty of time and sunlight, one of the motivations being that I wanted to complete a legit hike here. The hike I chose was a 5.1 mile loop named the Pueblo Alto Trail, named as such because it passes the New Pueblo Alto and Pueblo Alto ruins above the canyon walls. After parking the car and drinking a quart of water to make sure I was hydrated, I began.

At the end of about a 1/4 mile walk, I notice a woman taking pictures of the canyon wall. I say hello as I pass and then I hear her shout up towards the wall. When I look up, I see a man way, way up on the cliff side and think, “What the hell is that asshole doing up on the cliff side?!?” And, then… I notice the sign for the trail pointing in his direction. Yes, I had to climb a “trail” that scaled the side of the cliff and then up a narrow crack in the cliff wall to get to the top of the canyon wall. It was not fun, at all, given my issues with exposure, but… well, I don’t know… I just didn’t want to change my plans.

The hike itself was, naturally, fantastically beautiful. The followed the edge of the canyon to an overlook of Pueblo Bonito which gave a great view of the structure from above. Then it cut north on a path to the New Pueblo Alto and Pueblo Alto ruins. At this point I passed a man and his dog, and I didn’t see another soul for the next 4+ miles, which was a blessing and a curse. When I hike, I like to be alone, but not when it makes me hyper vigilant, on the look-out for mountain lions. Yeah, that is my thing. The thought of mountain lions simply scares the shit out of me. But, what am I going to do? Not hike?

The hike was supposed to be 5.1 miles but it ended-up being nearly 6 miles. While I had plenty of time and sunlight, as I got towards the end, I did start to get a bit anxious because the sun began setting quickly. The end of the hike, going down that cliff face, had me worried, so I wanted to make sure I had full light. Fortunately, the way down was surprisingly much easier than going up. Unfortunately, the video of the experience I thought I was shooting wasn’t shooting because it would’ve freaked people out.

Off To Camp

Getting a spot in the Gallo Campground required me winning an open spot and was what cemented the plan to go there. The campground was along the western side of a canyon on the way into the park, so when I arrived the moon was already rising above the eastern canyon walls. After setting-up camp, I noticed my neighbors weren’t lighting a fire, so I decided to bypass it myself and just turn-on my electric candles, which is better for star gazing anyway. The night was spent watching The Wolfman and the beginning of Raising Arizona as I watched the sun set and the stars rotate around the north star. My neighbors in the campground were mostly quiet and I had an easy time getting to sleep.

Morning and Another Tour

My two-man tent with the new tent cot has provided me some blissful sleep on this trip and last night was no different. Around 6 AM the idea of getting on the road by 8 AM forced its way into my head and I began breaking everything down in the dark. At the very end, as I was eating a banana and wrapping things-up, I spotted a bobcat running from one side of the road to the next, not 10 feet away from me! While mountain lions scare the shit out of me, it was a lot of fun seeing something as elusive as a bobcat.

Once I finished breakfast, I decided to take the time to drive the loop once more and see what the canyon looked like during sunrise. The entire way, I tried to imagine what it must’ve been like to visit this place in its prime 1300 years ago. The morning was absolutely perfect and the drive was a nice ending to the trip. At this point, all I had to do was make it back through the gauntlet of CR 7900/7950 and I was back on the road to civilization.

A Long Drive Made Longer By Bad Planning

One of the things I hate on my trips is passing a sign that says “(blank) National Park/Monument/Site Next Left/Right”. Because I like to visit these places and collect stamps and souvenirs, I want to visit these places, but when I do that without planning I end-up pulling into motels at 10 o’clock at night because I don’t realize “Next Left/Right” usually means take a turn and drive another 50 miles and back.

So, I got the bright idea this time around to find a map that shows where all of these places are and see what is actually close to the path I’m taking. Today, my path past Albuquerque was by Petroglyphs National Monument. Once on Route 550 south I set a course to the park. When I got close, I started seeing signs to different areas related to the park and my fears were quickly realized when I got to the visitors center. Petroglyphs National Monument is a collection of sites in the area, which meant even though I’d kind of planned, I’d actually planned wrong because I didn’t have time to actually goto the places.

And, this mistake added about a half-hour to an hour to an already exceptionally long day of driving. All things told, the drive from Chaco Canyon to my destination of a La Quinta Inn in Elk City, Oklahoma, took about 10 hours and I was beat. But, here I am, writing a blog post at the end of this day just for you (and my obsessive personality disorder). Good night.