Chaco Culture National Historical Park — Attraction in Crownpoint

We camped at the Chaco Canyon Gallo campground this past Friday nite. We went to see the nite sky and stars as it has been called THE best place to see the stars in America... and IT IS!!! Absolutely NO ambient light, it was the BEST view I've ever had (in 70 yrs of stargazing from all over the world!!) . Gazing up at the Milky Way, stretching from horizon to horizon, it seemed to have a 3D appearance, depth I've never seen before. Words can't adequately describe it...you MUST experience it for yourself. Next day we went to see the ruins, not expecting much, and were very pleasantly surprised to find that, unlike Mesa Verde- which we also went to this weekend, and where everything is now roped off, don't touch, can't even go to the main ruins w/o paying an $8 tour fee... Chaco ruins are mostly all open & free. We climbed thru the tunnels, narrow hallways, big & small rooms...really got to explore the ruins ... as I remember doing at Mesa Verde a half century ago. So evidently there are just sooooo many people now coming to see Mesa Verde that it's now highly restricted access, costing $8 to look but don't touch, etc. And the ugly beauty of Chaco is that the access to the canyon is over a few miles of dirt road & the last 3-4 miles washboard ruts that will rattle your teeth driving there. B4 we went to Mesa Verde, we were cussing out the deplorable road conditions... but if those conditions are keeping away the droves of tourists that have turned Mesa Verde into a pay to look don't touch "museum " exhibit, then keep those roads nasty, keep the multitudes away to keep Chaco interactive, touchable, explorable, FREE! And by the by, Mesa Verde had 200+ rooms in the big ruin.... Chaco had over 600+ rooms, and cool petroglyphs to hike & see. At MV you can look thru an outside window & see a couple connecting rooms (IF you pay $8) ...at CC you can crawl thru the window, go into the other rooms, down the hallway, explore to your hearts content (Free). But wait!! I don't want to entice y'all to CC...PLEEZE! stay away, keep it pristine... uncrowded, touchable, explorable , plenty of open campsites. Check out the PBS show, The Mystery of Chaco Canyon... that show tells and shows all y'all need to know or see... so y'all just stay home...

The roads leading to this World Heritage Site are terrible which, unfortunately, likely discourages visitors. Don't be discouraged! Getting to the important facility in the US National Park system is absolutely worth the effort. (More on access below).

Between AD 800 and 1150 this was a vitally important place, beginning innovations in Pueblo design and culture. And you can visit and walk through these ruins. The star in Pueblo Bonito. That name is known worldwide.

Begin at the visitor center to receive a good introduction and a site brochure. The 25 minute movie is worthwhile. We purchased trail guides for two of the most important sites (Pueblo Bonito and Pueblo del Arroyo) and it was worth the investment.

If you are pinched for time, or if it's very hot, plan at a minimum to visit these two. Pueblo del Arroyo is not overwhelming huge and the internal structure of the pueblos is readily visible.

One final point: because I asked, I learned that almost all the ruins are in the same place and condition as when the sites were excavated. They were covered in sand and the excavation revealed what we see today. The stone walls were not rebuilt, but only stabilized. So, for the most part the mortar that holds those rocks in place is what was used a thousand+ years ago.

Access Roads: if you approach from the north (Rt 550), you make a right turn at a well marked sign, driving on a paved county road that turns into an all-weather gravel. So far, so good. Finally there's some six miles on packed dirt - some washboarding but nothing requiring high clearance. We had no problem in late June.

We exited the park to the south on a Navajo tribal road 57. This road is 16 miles of packed dirt with occasional washboard gravel. And, at a few points, the road is exposed bedrock. We only encountered 2 other vehicles. This is a viable exit route in dry weather, but judging from the ruts I suspect it might be a difficult drive in wet weather.

I do not recommend entering Chaco by this route unless you are driving a "back roads" vehicle. There are two steep upgrades that looked problematic even on this dry day...

This particular story happen at when we took a family trip to Chaco Canyon back in 2017.

It was in the during the summer time, I was visiting my mother and stepfather in New Mexico. They lived in crownpoint at the time so we all decided to take a day trip to see Chaco Canyon. While we were visiting the villages my youngest started to say things that were kinda odd but I didn't think nothing of it. My youngest at the time was 5... while we were visiting some of the villages my son just took off and ran everywhere just very happy to be there and we've never seen him this excited about anything honestly. When we visit the village "Pueblo Bonito" which is known for the biggest village of Chaco Canyon my son told us "In this room this is where we stored the food" and me thinking he's just saying things I started to play along and ask more questions...he later on said "this area is where I would play with my sister and brother... and my mom would be grinding corn over at her stone" I honestly started to feel a little weird because my son isn't one to tell lies about these things....he isn't one to pretend anything. He doesn't know anything about how long time ago how things were prepared or how women grind corn...it wasn't until he said "This is the room I died in....I got sick and they didn't know how to take care of me..so I died" I honestly didn't know what to say after that.. I just turned to him and gave him a big hug and so did my mom. His older brothers kept saying "you're lying...mom never grinds corn" 🤣 or "we don't have sister", "you didn't die, you're right here" but we just told them to let him say what he wants to say. We then later left hooma at the village in bundle and we said our prayers and we left. My son then asked if he can come back and visit because this was his home, I told him one day we'll come back and visit soon.

I was never one to believe in reincarnation, but after this experience I believe it's true... that we do come back into...