Chaco Canyon was a major Ancestral Puebloan cultural center between 850 and 1250 CE. Like Mesa Verde, it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Chaco Culture National Historical Park started as a national monument in 1907, to protect the ruins and artifacts, before transitioning to a national park in 1980.
History
Chaco is known for its architecture – including massive, multi-story stone buildings (called great houses) with hundreds of rooms. Dozens of great houses in distance communities were connected by avenues.
The first great houses in Chaco, built in the mid- to late 800s, were Pueblo Bonito, Una Vida, and Peñasco Blanco. They were followed by Hungo Pavi, Chetro Ketl, Pueblo Alto, and others.
Chaco Canyon also has round ceremonial rooms called kivas. Chacoans built two types of kivas, great kivas and clan kivas. Great kivas were used for community or regional gatherings with hundreds of people and included benches, fire hearths, and north-facing doorways. Clan kivas were smaller and may have served separate clans or religious societies.
Chacoan society reached its height between 1000 and 1100, becoming a ceremonial, administrative, and economic center of the San Juan Basin. Migrations to the south, east, and west began in the 13th century. More than a dozen Puebloan tribes in New Mexico, and the Hopi in Arizona, claim Chaco as their ancestral homeland.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park
Visitors can arrive from the north or south. The southern access road off Highway 9 is a very rough, dirt road. We arrived from the south on a snowy January day – it took us almost 50 minutes to drive 20 miles to the visitor center.
Visitors need to start at the visitor center to pay the entrance fee and get a hangtag for their car. Since the park is a drivable, paved loop road, this tag allows park officials to know that you paid when they pass through parking areas.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park
2023 Price: Free due to my Annual Pass (Fee would have been $25 for a 7-day pass)
There are 16 great houses within the park for you to see and learn about.
Due to the weather, we made our visit short – we toured Pueblo Bonita, Chetro Ketl, and hiked the petroglyph trail between them.
Pueblo Bonita
Pueblo Bonita is approximately 4.5 miles from the visitor center. There is a 0.7-mile gravel trail (round trip) through and around the house. You can walk in some of the rooms, but be respectful, stay on the trail, and do not touch the walls.
Pueblo Bonita is the most important site in the canyon. Park workers told us this was the must-see pueblo if you could only visit one. While it might be hard to picture from the remaining walls and foundation, this great house had more than 600 rooms with four or five stories. It covered 3 acres.
There were 5 phases of construction for this great house. Its year-round population is estimated at 50 to 100 people but was built to accommodate temporary visitors for ceremonies and trading.
A large, round great kiva is found in the plaza. It could accommodate hundreds of people. There were four great kivas in Pueblo Bonita’s plaza.
The giant slabs of sandstone at the back of Pueblo Bonita are what is left of Threatening Rock. This cliff segment collapsed in 1941, destroying 30 rooms.
Petroglyph Trail
If you are visiting Pueblo Bonita and Chetro Ketl, consider walking the Petroglyph Trail along the cliff face between the houses. Bring binoculars to better view the higher petroglyphs.
We spotted interconnect spirals, slashes, and figure petroglyphs.
In addition to the petroglyphs, we saw sparrows, ravens, and a flash of a rabbit tail before it dashed under brush.
Chetro Ketl
You can tour Chetro Ketl directly from the parking lot or take the petroglyph trail like we did. It is the second largest great house, covering more than 3 acres. Builders created an elevated plaza 12 feet above the canyon floor.
By this point we were being pelted in the face with freezing wind and snow, so we hurried through Chetro Ketl.
The southern access road is surrounded by farmland. On our way out, a herd of cattle stood in the road and stared us down. They refused to move! I had to gently inch forward, until they finally deigned to shuffle a little out of the way.
850 to 1250 CE… Should I repeat that? I love historical sites. Actually experiencing how others lived in times past, standing inside a building where others lived so long ago and able to read about the structure that stands in front of you and what it was used for was amazing. It was a very peaceful place as well. Only one other couple while we self-toured. Of course, as an artist, I am always fascinated by the petroglyphs.
The cows, they were hilarious.