The route from Sante Fe to Chaco Culture National Historical Park is easy. First the I-25 south, and then Highway 550 at Bernalillo. The 550 is another long road with not much to see. From the well-posted highway exit, it takes another 21 miles, 14 of them on a dirt road. It's really remote out here, I wonder if there are other tourists around. After about 45 minutes of bumping up and down, I arrive at the Visitor Center. A few other people clearly have made it out here too, as there are already some cars in the parking lot. At an entrance fee of 8 dollars per car, you can take a roundtrip of 9 miles through the valley and along the points of interest. The impressive Fajada Butte marks the entrance to the park.

But I start with the short walk to Una Vida. This is a mostly unexcavated great house. It's the most eastern of all public buildings in this region, that were connected by a road network. I pick up a booklet at the start of the walk which points out the most remarkable features. The walk has a length of 1.6 miles and is a very enjoyable one in a relatively chilly morning. The highlight for me is the group of petroglyphs you can see on the rock just above the house.

I drive on to the next stop: Hungo Pavi. Here the walls are in a good condition. The Chaco were very skilled brick layers. Archeologists can deduct from the way the bricks were layed from which period a building originates. These buildings could become 3 to 4 stories high.

At the end of the valley, there are the two most complete ancient buildings, Chetro Ketl and Pueblo Bonito. Both are large building structures with about 500 rooms. Using another great booklet that you can buy for a mere 75 cents I walk the trails around and partly through these monuments. All kinds of pretty details are highlighted, like the little round holes in the rocks where the houses were attached by wooden beams. There also used to be balconies at Chetro Ketl.

Pueblo Bonito was hit by a large rock in 1941 (you can still see this), but there's a lot left: the central square and the low doors between the various rooms or apartments are clearly visible here. Only about 2000-6000 people lived permanently in the Chaco Canyon: it's difficult to survive in this dry high-desert valley. Most of the buildings probably only had religious or commercial purposes.

After a very worthwhile visit of 4 hours (and having seen only part of the park) I concluded my trip at the Visitor Center where I watched a video about the astronomical knowledge of the Chaco. I learned from it that the walls of the great houses were built on exact north-south lines and that astronomical markers were placed on Fajada Butte. Much more mystery remains (also because of the lack of a written script), but Chaco Culture is a truly great site and a very worthy WHS!