CHACO CULTURE National Heritage Site

YES,made it!!--and it is truly an amazing achievement of architectural design amd achievement.

Imagine establishing a community for special worship, able to support 100's of visitors for extended periods of time, during these ceremonies---house, feed, etc. Building an extensive-roomed structure, 2-3 stories high, covering many-hundred square feet of enclosed living and storage space. Consider the tools available in 950-1200AD[primitive, basic] living conditions [high desert, 7000 ft, with 9+ inches of rainfall/year--most during summer, sudden downpours, that drop a lot of water in a very short period of time, causing floods and without control, being lost to the sand, instead of saved and used for crops and/or life] all built for future centuries of visitors---yes, still very much a part of the religious life of the many Native American Peoples still populating this part of the Southwest.

I'd heard reference to CHACO for years from every National Park, Monument, Historic, Heritage site ranger---"You haven't been there, oh, you really need to go! It helps complete the picture of these ancient ancestors of our land--of us."--Now I understand why their insistance.

To reach the site is complicated by its location. It still is surrounded by Native Tribal lands, inhabited by current working ranches of animals and people and 13 of the 21 miles of the 'best' access road, is still desert sand/dirt/mud [during any rainfall] and this, only reached by traveling many miles on paved roads to begin the last 21 mile journey---and that is in a motorized vehicle. I still find it remarkable how far foot-travelers will be willing to go to get to some place important enough to get to.

I drove from Santa Fe 356 miles [round trip] climbing up to the Colorado Plateau [named with no relation to the state of Colorado] with only the last 11 miles of that days journey, at the site itself!! The drive was beautiful--spectacular in the clean, rain-washed air [yesterday] and, in the morning sun, the sandstone layers revealed--as you climb from 3500 to 7000 ft, in 50-70 miles[of the necessary 175 total] over the Continental Divide at 7380 ft--are as close to being able to DRIVE the Grand Canyon in your car. I've driven up to the plateau before [most recently, last year with Cameran from Flagstaff to Page] and the revealed, geological forces needed to create this bursting-to-the-surface, layered rock formation still awe me.

The photos I took reveal some of the labor-intensive work needed to achieve this remarkable rock community. It is still a place of worship and shows it to any visitor. ENJOY!!