Saturday, September 24, 2016

Chaco Canyon

home of the ancients


Chaco Canyon is about 150 miles due east of us
an easy scenic drive

except for the last 25 miles which was one of the worst 
dirt roads I have ever seen
10 miles an hour lets you really see the scenery going by though


over a thousand years ago this high desert valley
was the home to the ancestors of the pueblo people



the canyon in itself was striking


it is hard to show the scale of these giant rock walls that 
line the canyon



 the canyon is huge


with lots of ruins


 we got a new tent for the occasion
I call it the old people tent
'cause you can stand up in it and it has a hinged door
it was so comfortable!!
never going back to the crawl in and unzip kind!!

this is one of the darkest places in the US
the first night was clear
and I forgot there were so many stars......



sunrise over the campground first morning


 we had this ruin all to ourselves


 hanging out with the ancient energy




their stone work was amazing and impeccable
they had at least 5 different styles
over the 300 years of construction


 they used 250,000 trees for roof supports
brought from almost 60 miles away
no one is sure how they did it....

no roofs still exists


 the ruins consist of small rooms and kivas -
round deep holes in the round


this is an aerial of Pueblo Bonito 
the photo I took above is of the large kiva to the middle and front
of this aerial photo


the rocks from the canyon have fallen in on some of the ruins
this is the back of Pueblo Bonito


inside


I especially like this 
it was a hallway on a floor that is gone now
and it is on an angle and serves what would have been
several rooms above


a major feature in the landscape was Fajada Butte





on the cliff face these 3 slabs stand in front of 
2 carved spiral petroglyphs

as the sun passes through these on the equinoxes and solstices
beams of light show up on the spiral


this was their calendar



 of course human impact has caused the slabs to shift
and now access is restricted....

we left the day before the equinox
as people from all over the world were convening
at Chaco to see this celestial event
PBS had a film crew there
(we are not big on crowds)
 also the weather had changed and was cold and rainy
so no stars and no sunrise
so no dagger of light......bummer



on the way home


 we stopped to take in
the idea of the continental divide


our '94 Ford Ranger made the trip without a hiccup


 and of course - cows in the road on the way home
hey it's the west!




xxoo










3 comments:

  1. Excellent travel blog. Got a good sense of the place. 25 miles of the worst dirt road ever! My teeth are rattling.

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  2. So interesting! Could you 'feel' the people who had lived there when you were near the ruins?

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  3. thanks Dean and Jacquie - you made my day - and yes, I think we could feel the ancients when we were there.....very powerful place.....xxoo

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