5in29: Day 16
2024-12-26. Aztec, NM
Attraction #1: Chaco Culture National Historical Park
As we drove on NM State Highway 550, the elevation changed from 6500 feet to 7385 feet. The temperature changed from 28 degrees when we started in the morning to the low 30s. At one point, snowflakes flew outside and wet the windshield. We had to stop at a gas station to clean the dirty windshield because I was taking a lot of pictures from inside the van.
Off NM State Highway 550, we drove 20+ miles to reach Chaco Canyon. 13 of those miles were on unpaved road. We could only drive about 8-15 miles per hour. We lost 2 rolls of toilet paper—they were piles of paper on the floor as if a cat had fun with the rolls—we didn’t prepare them from the vibration of the rough road unrolling itself.
The visitor center was one of the strictest I have seen. They asked us to show our IDs when we presented our National Park pass—at several other national parks, we only needed to show we had a pass. We received a park entry pass to hang on the front mirror of the van. In addition, at this park, self-guided booklets about the various spots cost $2 each. I think this should be the way because I have seen visitors at many other places having multiple maps or guides only to throw them in recycle bins. What a waste.
Chaco Cultural National Park preserves one of the most important pre-Columbian cultural and historical areas in the U.S. It is a place the whole world honors.
Chaco Canyon was a major cultural center between 850 and 1250 CE and is remarkable both for its monumental architecture and its status as a center for trade, politics, and ceremony.
Many buildings had alignment to capture the solar and lunar cycles.
The construction used rocks or sandstones carefully prepared and aligned to make solid walls. The ruins showed strong understanding of physics. The walls were thick—great for insulation keeping the rooms at comfortable temperatures year-round.
Pueblo Bonito is the largest great house and lies at the center of the canyon, surrounded by dozens of other great houses. It is connected to more than 150 great house communities and thousands of small house sites. It was unearthed and preserved between 1920 and 1927.
Pueblo Bonito was called a “Chacoan Great House.” It embraced many roles, including ceremony, administration, trading, storage, hospitality, communications, astronomy, and burial of the honored dead. Only a small portion seems to have served as living quarters. More than 600 rooms towered four and five stories above the valley floor, covering 3 acres.
The building’s unique D-shaped geometry enclosed two plazas with dozens of ceremonial kivas.
The ruins of Pueblo Bonito have many rooms connected by doors that are less than 4 feet high. I bumped my head several times going through the rooms.
There were many other ruins nearby. All were much smaller than Pueblo Bonito.
Attraction #2: Aztec Ruins National Monument
Two ruins in a day! It just happened these two are close by—it took one and a half hour to get to Aztec from Chaco.
Aztec allowed self-guided tours with a $3 booklet. The tour was a 800-yard walk.
Aztec Ruins National Monument contains the remarkably well-preserved remains of an ancestral Pueblo great house called Aztec West, the reconstructed great kiva, and the Hubbard tri-wall site. Numerous other sites are also within the monuments.
In many ways, the two (Chaco and Aztec) are so similar to each other, yet so different.
Both ruins were about the same culture and people and shared similar eras.
Chaco Canyon was the precursor. Around 11th century, as Chaco Canyon’s influence began to wane, a new center emerged to the north: Aztec Ruins. Aztec people at the time were heavily influenced by Chacoan culture.
Aztec buildings were constructed by rocks, too. But these were larger pieces. The walls are about the same thickness. The doors were higher, and the rooms seemed larger.
Aztec buildings shared the same architectural style and seemed more mature and better preserved.
The self-guide descriptions provided much more details about the people, the purposes of various rooms, their way of life, and more. Such was missing in Chaco Ruins.
One building has rooms with the original ceilings! I could see that the ceiling of a room has one main pole, many smaller ones, then many branches. The gaps were covered by just large enough rocks.
Compared to Chaco Ruins, this site was smaller because it was just about one great house. But the stories were better understood because of the less ruins, more artifacts, among other reasons. Its museum is much larger with more materials and it mentions Chaco as part of the entire history.
Just when we were about to end our tour, three deer showed up! I seemed to have had quite a few “Deer Friends” during this trip!
Van Life:
By the time we finished Aztec ruins, it was sunset time.
The night temperature would be 27 degrees again. We decided to find a RV park. To be close to the road for the next day, we chose one that has only water and shore power for $40+tax. No bathroom, no laundry.
Eureka Moment:
I found myself loving all the national parks I have been to, during this trip and before.
Why not get a passport to collect stamps?
Got one today at Aztec Ruins and had my first stamp!
Too bad this realization didn’t occur to me earlier today for Chaco Ruins. But, Roman got one stamp for me on the map! I’ll just add it to my passport.