CHACO

NAME: CHACO COUNTY: MC KINLEY ROADS: 2WD GRID: 1 CLIMATE: rain or snow can be a problem out here! BEST TIME TO VISIT: Most any time

COMMENTS: CHACO. Regional Span. 'desert'. Name may be derived from Navajo phrase for the arroyo and valley, tse ya chahatquel nlini, which flows along', darkness under the rock, and reinterpreted into chaco..16 mi SE of Burnham.CHACO CANYON. San Juan County. Settlement on NM 56 and on Chaco North Fork Creek, at Pueblo Bonito. Post office 1936 to 142. CHACO CANYON NATIONAL MONUMENT. McKinley and San Juan Counties. Contains some of the greatest surface ruins in the US. Among the eighteen major ruins and countless smaller ones, archeologists have identified house sites of the Basket Makers dating back more than 1500 years. Pueblo Bonito, Chetro Ketl, and Pueblo Alto are among the larger ruins. Here also are the unit-type houses of the first Pueblo Indians, a civilization that flourished between the ninth and twelfth centuries. CHACO RIVER. San Juan County. Heads S of the settlement of Chaco Canyon; flows W and N and joins San Juan River E of Shiprock. REMAINS: Extensive pueblo ruins/kivas.

CHACO / CHACO CANYON. This writer has visited these ruins as a young cow boy, horse back, and marveled at the existence of this ancient civilization. I have re visited no less than 15 times and cannot wait until the time rolls around when I can go again. Take the family. Take a tent. Stay two days at least.Get tired, hungry and thirsty. Submitted by: Samuel W McWhorter

BACK