As we entered Chaco Canyon, we came upon the campground.  Rigs up to 35′ can be accommodated.  No hook-ups.  One word of caution though, that bumpy dirt road section of CR 7950 coming into the park could do some serious damage to your rig.  We found a good RV Park in Kirtland NM called Homstead RV Park, an hour away, with plenty of room and 50 AMP hook-ups.

That being said… what a cool campground!  There are several pueblo ruins right there in the campground.

There are no food services in the park, but a very nice picnic area at the Visitors Center awaits.  We packed our lunch in.  Just like most of the remote National Parks, it is a good idea to have extra food and water with you.  Cell phone service is spotty. 

There are two types of rock formations in the main part of the canyon.  Millions of years ago, this area was on the edge of a huge inland sea.  Rivers flowing to the sea brought materials from the land such as petrified wood, turtles and dinosaurs. This terrestrial based sediment is called the Menefee Formation (top two pics).  The other type is called the Cliff House Sandstone and it is made up of beach and sea life such as ammonites, clams, sea snails and sharks (bottom pics).

In the Visitor’s Center there is a model of a kiva.  Kivas were and are very important to Puebloan tribes.  They were usually down in the Earth, covered by a roof made from cross hatched wood called cribbed roofing and a mortar overlay made a flat roof (shown by a cutaway section of the model).  An access ladder protruded through a hole in the roof that was also used for ventilation.  Social and religious ceremonies and rituals were performed in Kivas.  Depending on the size of the community, there may be several Kivas.

The Puebloan Timeline shows how their history is organized.  They cover Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.  The tribes that evolved from the Ancient Puebloans are Hopi, Navajo, Taos, Acoma, Zuni and others.

Once we had a good familiarity with these aspects of Chaco culture, it was time to experience the canyon so we could learn more.

 The first aerial pictures of Chaco Canyon were taken by Charles Lindbergh’s wife Anne Morrow from their airplane as they flew over in 1929.

It was time for us to see it up close.