We enjoyed green forest and fast running stream next to our spot at Rio De Las Vacas Campground, and relaxing short 5-mile walk on Horse Canyon Forest Rd. Even more so in anticipation of quick change of scenery to hot, dry and desert-like environment at Chaco Canyon (and the following days). To get there our Subaru was subjected to 13-mile rough dirt road test – it was not as bad as we worried, a good sign for more dirt-roads in our plans. We drove there via Rds 7900 and 7950 from NM Hwy 550 near Nageezi.
☞ Chaco Culture National Historical Park is almost unknown, but contains amazing remains of a huge ceremonial center of Ancestral Puebloan people used from 850 to 1250 AD. There are several great houses which are mini-cities consisting sometimes of hundreds of rooms, with multiple ceremonial kivas and plazas aligned to serve as astronomical observatories. We learned about it only a few years ago. Remote location and lack of paved roads mean few tourists – visiting the ruins is real pleasure. Turns out Ancestral Puebloans developed cultural sites on par with that of South American peoples, however meaning and details of their structures, petroglyphs, ceremonies and believes are mostly forgotten.
We stayed 2 nights at the park campground (the sites are too close to one another for unknown reason, as there is a lot of space to spread out the campground ), made two longer hikes to the mesa above the canyon and petroglyphs and visited several grand house ruins (Pueblos), and listened to archeoastronomy talk. It was hot and we hiked a little less than we planed. Joanna wished we had more time there.
We walked 12 miles visiting main sites: Hungo Pavi – Chetro Ketl – New Pueblo Alto – Pueblo Alto – Kin Kletso – Casa Chiquita -Petroglyph Trail – Pueblo Del Arroyo – Pueblo Bonito – Casa Rinconada
