Chaco Canyon

Up next on our roadtrip adventures was Chaco Canyon, about 3 hours from Albuquerque. Wanting to get an early start, we packed up the car before the sun rose and transferred Nathan from his crib to his carseat, where he fell back to sleep. Somehow this pre-dawn start to our trip made me feel like a parent more than anything. Maybe it was all the trips with my family that started in the dark, loading coolers and sleepy kids into the car...

Below is a map of our route. Notice that once we left Route 550, there is no marked road. That is because the road to Chaco Canyon ends in 20 miles of dirt road across a barren expanse of tribal land. How New Mexican.


The how and the why of Chaco Canyon is very much a mystery. All that can be said for sure is 1) People lived here and 2) They left at some point. Construction of the buildings started around 800 and lasted more than 300 years. It is an area with little water, frigid winters, short growing seasons and desert landscape, so it is amazing that this was a highly complex center of civilization with buildings of monumental scale.

Two different shots of Fajada Butte as you enter the park. We mostly drove around the loop road with side excursions to look at the ruins.

Waiting for the Ranger led tour, Nathan spent some time standing (FINALLY! got it on camera :-)

Shot of some of the ruins from up the hill.

One of the remaining walls. Many of the buildings were as high as 5 stories.

Photo down one of the walls, Nathan and Michael way in the distance.

Very cool rock, the soft sandstone weathered away.

Nathan getting a little sleepy...

Checking out the big rocks with Daddy.

Nathan got antsy as the ranger told us all about the ruins, so we put him down and he climbed the stairs, over, and over, and over....

Cacti and ruins...

Another shot down at the ruins, you can see liiiiittle tiny people down there.

At the last set of ruins, checking out the kiva. Well, Michael and I were checking it out, Nathan was fast asleep in the backpack!

We really wore him out!

I wish my photos could do Chaco Canyon justice, we are talking about going camping up there, and then I can get the coveted dawn and dusk "magic light" photos. And maybe even some photos of the stars out there. I hear they are amazing. I also finally dove in and bought a wide angle lens after this trip, because there are SO many times I would have loved to have one to try and capture the expanse of this land.