Chaco Culture National Historical Park

29Aug21

It’s not easy to get to Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwest New Mexico.

You have to endure 20 miles of dirt road before you get to the park and a paved highway again. And most of those 20 miles are rough – so rough that there are ways into the park the National Park Service doesn’t recommend RVs take.

I experienced that on my trip into Chaco Culture this past summer. I was driving a little Prius C and while I never was worried I wasn’t going to be able to navigate the road, I rarely got above 25 miles per hour. At times I was driving 15 and even that seemed too fast.

So, it was a relief when I finally saw the park’s entrance and a paved road again. 

That relief turned to excitement when I first saw the ruins of Chaco Culture.

These are amazing sites, unlike any I have seen anywhere else in the park service. Many are still intact and others are big enough that you can tell what a massive site this was.

Chaco Culture was the center of Chacoan culture 1100 to 1200 years ago. Native people created monumental architecture, developed far-reaching commerce as well as a complex social organization.

These are huge structures – multi-story stone buildings that rise out of the canyon floor. I spent most of my time at Chaco Culture exploring these great ruins. Unlike some parks, you can actually walk inside and on top of many of these ruins.

As I reflect back on my visit, I am amazed at how these structures have remained intact. Just a day earlier I visited Fort Union, a Western fort that was a main commercial and military outpost. Most of those structures built in the 1800s were gone and the others were just shells of what they were.

But at Chaco Culture, the ruins originally built in the 800s were still standing.        

Most of the ruins are an easy walking distance from the parking lot, which was good on this day because temperatures were topping out at 100 degrees. There were a few ruins I didn’t visit because the hike to get to them was just too far for me to go in the heat.

Chaco Culture was originally established as a national monument in 1907, one of the first monuments created in the National Park Service. The fight to make Chaco Culture a national park site is beautifully chronicled in Ken Burns’ documentary on the park service. 

I delayed my exit from Chaco Culture as long as possible. Not only did I not want to leave this amazing park but I wasn’t looking for the return trip down 20 miles of bumpy road.

At least I had the memories of Chaco Culture National Historical Park to keep my company on the return trip.

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