Frommer's National Parks of the American West - Don Laine [271]
CHACO CULTURE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK
A stunning setting and well-preserved ruins make the long drive to Chaco Canyon extremely worthwhile. The stark desert seems strange as a center of culture, but the ancient ancestral Puebloan people (the group here are also called Chacoans) successfully farmed and built elaborate public buildings, which connected with other Chacoan sites over a wide-ranging network of roads.
By A.D. 1000, Chaco was the religious and economic center of the San Juan Basin; 2,000 to 5,000 people may have lived in some 400 settlements in and around Chaco. Stone walls rose more than four stories high, and some are still in place today.
Chaco's decline after 1½ centuries of success coincided with a drought in the San Juan Basin between 1130 and 1180, but anthropologists still argue vehemently over why the site was abandoned. Many believe that an influx of outsiders may have brought new and troubling influences. One controversial theory maintains that cannibalism existed at Chaco, practiced either by the ancestral Puebloans themselves or by invaders, such as the Toltecs of Mexico. Most, however, contend that for some reason the Chacoan people left gradually, and today their descendants live among the region's Pueblo people.
Walking and hiking among the ruins are the most popular activities here. The key ruin is Pueblo Bonito, one of the largest prehistoric dwellings ever excavated in the American Southwest. It has some 800 rooms covering more than 3 acres, and you'll get good views from above along the Pueblo Alto Trail. Other easily accessible ruins are Chetro Ketl, Pueblo del Arroyo, Kin Kletso, Casa Rinconada, Hungo Pavi, and Una Vida.
A visitor center, with a bookstore and a museum that shows films on ancestral Puebloan culture, is open daily year-round. Gallo Campground ($10 per night) has 49 sites with central toilets, nonpotable water, and no shade. Drinking water is available only at the visitor center.
The primary entrance is off U.S. 550 and San Juan County Roads 7900 and 7950. To get to Chaco from Santa Fe, take I-25 south to Bernalillo (Exit 242), then U.S. 550 northwest through Cuba to mile marker 112. Turn left onto San Juan County Road 7900 (paved) for 5 miles, and turn right. Go 16 miles on San Juan County Road 7950 to the park entrance. Farmington is the nearest population center, and it's still a 75-mile, 1½-hour drive to the park. Head east on U.S. 64 to Bloomfield and turn right onto U.S. 550. Three miles south of the Nageezi Trading Post (the last stop for food, gas, or lodging), turn onto San Juan County Road 7900 and proceed as above.
For information, contact Chaco Culture National Historical Park, P.O. Box 220, Nageezi, NM 87037-0220 (☎ 505/ 786-7014; www.nps.gov/chcu).
Admission for up to 7 days costs $8 per vehicle.
AZTEC RUINS NATIONAL MONUMENT
Misnamed by Anglo settlers who thought these ruins were built by the Aztec people of Mexico, this 450-room pueblo with a huge central kiva was actually the home of the ancestral Puebloans about 7 centuries ago, long before the time of the Aztecs.
You'll see the Chaco culture here, plus signs of Mesa Verde influence from a later occupation. Aztec's Great Kiva is the only completely reconstructed great kiva in existence. The circular ceremonial chamber is 50 feet in diameter, with a main floor sunken 8 feet below the surface of the surrounding ground.
Allow at least an hour to see the ruins on the .25-mile self-guided trail, and also stop in the visitor center (open daily year-round) to see the exhibits and watch the 25-minute film on the history of the prehistoric people of the area. There is no camping at the monument.
Aztec Ruins is approximately a half-mile north of U.S. 550 on Ruins Road (County Rd. 2900) on the north edge of the city of Aztec, about 14 miles northeast of Farmington,