A Quiet Day in Chaco

After a late night Friday, we were slow moving Saturday morning. A lot of hanging out in lawn chairs hoping that it would not get too much hotter.

The weather changed throughout the day. We started out very warm and clear, then it clouded up and we started to hear thunder. After a while, it rained, and then hailed. The rest of the day was on and off rain.

During a break in the weather, Richard, Ari, and Erica hopped in the truck and drove to the Pueblo Bonito ruins for a second look. It was nice to be there without groups or lots of people around. I took a few pictures that showed the ruins without any people. We hiked around the back of the ruins, over the mammoth pieces of Fallen Rock, which fell in the 1940s and crushed part of the ruin. The size of the fallen rock was amazing. We continued on the petroglyph trail, and then to Kim Kletso ruin.

When we returned, Marianne was snoozing, but reported that it had hailed at the camper. But it did not hail where we were.

We felt sorry for the tent campers, the one next to us was drying out his sleeping bag in his car.

The big activity for the evening was showers all around. We had done so well at conserving water and electricity that we had plenty of water and power for showers.

Sunday we drive to (or towards) the Sand Dunes National Park. We hope that the dirt road is not too muddy and slippery.

Richard, Mariane, Ariana, and Erica

Chaco Hiking and Stars

After breakfast, we went out for a hike on the Pueblo Alto trail, which Marianne and I had hiked before. In this case, the views and the hike are more impressive than the ruins. A few minutes from the car, the trail heads up towards the cliff, and leaves you wondering where it is going. It heads up a pile of rocks, and then into a crack that takes you to the top of the cliff. The girls loved it. Marianne made it, but needed help in spots.

The view from the top of the cliff is an overlook of the canyon; We walked over to look down on the Pueblo Bonito ruins. We could really see the layout of the ruins, the big “D” shape that the ruins form. So many kivas.


After that, we hiked up the trail towards Pueblo Alto. The view became more expansive as we got closer to the top of the mesa. We stopped to look at the Chacoan stairs and road. Perhaps the biggest excitement was an extended view of a Collared Lizard, a beautiful lizard of green, red, and yellow. He let us look at him over a long time, while we ate lunch, so we took plenty of pictures. After lunch we decided to turn back, although we were very close to Pueblo Alto, and could see it just up the hill.

In the afternoon, Marianne and Richard took a nap while the girls played. We headed to the visitor center for the evening star talk and show. The talk was about archeo-astronomy, with pictures of various alignments that may or may not have been coincidences. Richard chatted before the show with John, who is a volunteer astronomer for the park. They give him an apartment, and he stays in the park for a month or two. After the talk, it was time to look through the telescopes. We all got to see the rings of Saturn, some of the moons of Jupiter, and Venus. It was the first time that most of us had seen the rings of Saturn. Erica slept through most of the talk, but did enjoy looking through the telescopes.

A great day in Chaco.

Richard

To Chaco

We woke up early on Thursday morning, and headed down the road to Chaco Canyon Historic Park, part of the National Park System. After 40 miles on the main highway, we turned off onto a narrow paved road, which turned to dirt for the last 13 miles. There have been proposals to pave the road into the park, but the park would prefer the road to stay dirt, to help limit the number of visitors. The road conditions were good for most of that 13 miles, but towards the end of the drive, we hit the bad washboard that shook everything and everybody. Marianne suggested that the final washboard was the riffraff filter, to discourage the casual visitor.

When we arrived in Chaco, around 10 AM, we headed straight for the campground, worried that there would not be a space for us. However, the campground was about half full. Most of the campsites were not large enough for RVS , but we chose one of the campsites and backed in, helped by a young boy, Chance, from Mississippi.

After lunch, we headed for the visitor center, where we saw a movie, and then to Pueblo Bonito for the tour. The ranger's commentary was not directed to kids at all, but the girls enjoyed wandering around the site, going through the little doorways from room to room. Chaco is such an interesting place. After the tour and a little wandering around the site, we headed back to the visitor center, where the girls bought Chaco posters.

We did a little birdwatching, finally identifying what we thought was a Gray Catbird. At dinner, the girls read stories from children's books. We had hoped to do some starwatching, but the sky was still a little light at 9:30PM, so we mostly saw the planets. We were able to identify, however, that the tent pad in our campsite has an astronomical alignment, in the four cardinal directions. Marianne commented that everything at Chaco has an astronomical alignment, which is probably true. ;-)

Richard, Marianne, Ariana, and Erica