Welcome to Chaco Culture National Historical Park! Chaco (for short!) is a wonderful treasure- in a very isolated area of New Mexico. Once you leave the main road, it gets quite interesting. The next 13 miles are a combination of gravel, potholes, sand, and washboard conditions. I would use tremendous caution about using this road in rainy or recent rain conditions. The road cuts through farms and pastures so be alert to cattle. If you run into trouble- finding help is going to be a bit of a challenge. Some rental car companies will not cover damage incurred by “off road” travel so be certain you understand your contract. Do you need a 4 wheel drive? Well, it would be easier, but it is not essential. RV’s or other large vehicles might find they do not have enough space to negotiate potholes and sandy shoulders. While some drivers move quite quickly down the road, the speed for the road really is about 15-35 mph. Hence- a long drive. There is sporadic wifi. The road is marked- just keep following it. Just when you think you can’t take another pothole- the park entrance appears and you can finally get onto a decent road. At the park entry, you will pay your entry fee- the America The Beautiful pass is a good deal if you are visiting more than one park. Online entry can be purchased in advance at Recreation.gov. If you purchase online- be certain you PRINT out your ticket/confirmation as internet may not work. Always check the National Park webpage for up to date payment options.

Once you pay, you will be on a loop road. The first stop is the Visitor Center- which opens later than park entry. Because it is a one way 9 mile loop- working in the Visitor Center can be a bit tricky. This is the ONLY place in the park that you can get water and use flush toilets. Before you make the drive- be certain you pack all meals, snacks, drinks, etc that you will need for the day. There is NOTHING for sale in the park nor on the 13 mile road. There are picnic tables at various parking lots. Outhouse facilities with a stovepipe which minimizes odor are readily available throughout the park. These are clean, supplied with toilet paper and hand sanitizer. The parking lots have ample size so you should have no problem finding a parking spot. When we visited, it was overcast and windy- the wind whipped up sand so hard that it felt like hail pellets. A hat and sunglasses can help reduce this impact- not to mention a hair tie for that long hair.

As you begin your tour- the site guide books that you can pre-purchase at the Western National Park online store (see Chaco page for link). or buy at the Visitor Center are essential. The guides will describe what you are seeing at each of the numbered spots. The first several stops are largely fragments of structures- so it is difficult to get a comprehensive picture about what the Chacoan Great Houses looked like. Much of that mystery is cleared up at the Pueblo Bonito complex. Here you get to see Kivas in wide open spaces and take the steps that lead into the building complex. Here, you can wander around and get a good feeling for how the complex looked. There are windows at second/third stories, doorways, post beam holes for ceilings, and in a far corner there is an actual room. The doorways are quite short- so you may be reduced to stooping or even crawling to get through. In the actual room you can see the original ceiling beams and how the room looked when plastered. Getting lost in the complex is part of the fun. You may find as you explore the ruins, shards of pottery- please remember that these are sacred and leave them as you found them.

The best Kiva is without question is at Casa Rinconada. To get there you need to follow the path past Pueblo de Arroyo. This Kiva is huge. There are two “T” shaped doors directly opposite one another. The guide book will take you through the complex and help you understand how it looked.

While there are several hikes that we had put into our itinerary- they just didn’t work out. We got a bit of a later start than anticipated, were slowed even further by the 13 mile road and with the archeology lovers in our group- moved too slowly through the ruins to get on a trail. (sigh). This is the hard and frustrating part of Chaco- it is so isolated that doing it over 2 days without the ability to camp on site is simply not practical. Unfortunately, traveling from the East coast prevented us from bringing camping gear. In retrospect, we probably should have rented a camper minivan. The drawback to that was our inexperience with camping in general, and no experience with camping in the Southwest. If you do camp, staying for several days allows you to take full advantage of all that Chaco offers- the ruins, trails and night skies. If you only have one day- Chaco is worth the effort. Create an itinerary that works for you- all ruins, all trails or maybe a combo. As always when you are in an isolated area- be prepared! Carry at least 2 liters of water/person, water/drinks in your vehicle, snacks, food, a full gas tank, first aid kit, pocket knife tool set, flashlight, foil blanket and a filtration drinking water straw. Going on a trail- check in with the Park Ranger and get the most up to date information.