Today was to be a 4.5 hour drive from Albuquerque up scenic state highway 550 to Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado, with stopovers at a couple of sights along the way. So, make it 6 hours tops. It turned out to be an 8 hour trip of 331 miles. A 21 mile trip into Chaco Canyon National Monument was on the road from hell. We had read about the road condition from the get-go, but figured "ah, how bad can it be?" The first 6 miles are paved, the next 7 miles are gravel/dirt mix with the last 8 miles washboard, rutted and potholed dirt - that section is what a sign blandly described as "unmaintained". The final 2.5 miles after the dirt were on Uncle Sam's land and paved to perfection although by then it was " hemorrhoids ahoy!" Now multiply each mileage number by 2 since the only way out of Chaco is the way in. Actuallly, there is one other way out but it requires a burro. To top it off, as we drove north the sky turned mean looking and then it happened. Driving into Chaco on that God foresaken "road" we had our first rain of the trip. The good news, the lucky news, is that the Honda passed it's torture trial with colors flying. Back on Hwy 550 at long last it purred along solid as a piece of billet. During the 42 mile transit we set another milestone of sorts - the tripmeter ticked over the 3,000 mile mark. We had rain off and on for the rest of the day, but nothing to bother about.
Scenic Hwy 550 north of Albuquerque.
A slight haze gave this huge mesa off to our left the appearance of a mirage.
Pretty much all of Hwy 550 north of Albuquerqe runs at around 7,000 feet which gave us great temps in the mid-sixties all the way. It must something about the name, but "Crossing the Continental Divide" always sounds so majestic when it's really only about drainage.
Rising up in the middle of nothing, this Apache casino on the edge of their reservation has more cachet than, say, a Maidu or Miwok owned casino. "Apache" has that ring of the Wild West to it.
The adventure begins. No mention of rotten road.
A bit of all right road to draw us in.
Okay, gravel is not too bad, although the underside of the car sounds like hard hail is hitting it.
Gouges and potholes....
Coupled with varying degrees of washboard, bad to badder. The guy ahead of us slid off the road after he tried to get too close to the edge to avoid a bad stretch. Real sandy shoulder.
And then this started.
We're smiling, perchance grimacing, because this sign marks the begining of a small section of paved road before the visitor center.
Lot's of dramatic vistas, this one in front of the visitor's center.
Cliffs as seen from the trail approaching Pueblo Bonita.
Not totally devoid of people, we hypothesize that many, if not most, were not day trippers but rather were staying in the campground, which was full. The ranger was expounding to this group when we walked to Pueblo Bonita and he and his listeners were in the same position when we walked back 20 minutes later.
Approaching Bonita, constructed in stages from CE 850 to 1150 by ancestral Pueblan peoples, it was the center of the Chacoan world.
Looking down on a portion of the ruins. Despite Norm's yodeling on about road conditions, walking through Chaco was worth every bump to our bladders for both of us.
Because the manmade structure building material was made from surrounding rock things tend to blend together in photos. This is a pan shot of the entire Pueblo Bonita site
Norm doing his anti-rain dance.
No religious significance here, folks. Just Pam in her rain hat among the ruins.
One last look back at this haunting site, which emanates a palpable strength as well.
The sign explains "Chetro Ketl", another Chacoan greathouse near Pueblo Bonita. Norm is pointing at the end of the cliff in the distance at the foot of which is the structure - again blending in.
Can be seem better on this shot.
This and the following four shots are of yet another greathouse. There were many of them built, primarily used for various societal purposes rather than tesidences.
It didn't look any better on the way out
Further up Hwy 550 we arrived at Aztec Ruins not long before the visitor's center closed. The word "Aztec" refers to the geographical place, the town of Aztec, not the mesoamerican Aztecs. When Coronado traveled from what is now Mexico into what is now New Mexico, he thought of all of the native population he met as Aztecs and things sort of got mooshed together.
This was a really nice visitor center inside - very well thought out. It was built out of what was once a private residence. The owner built in the 1920s. Many of the rafter beams he used were stripped from an 800 year old Pueblo greathouse on his property. Recycling is good.
Just thought the lettering looked nice.
Vanity shot. For those who have forgotten whose trip this is.
The claim to fame of this Monument is that it has the only reconstructed kiva (greathouse meeting room) in the Southwest.
Walking down into the kiva.
Following four shots are the kiva interior. Seating was on a built in bench along the entire inner circumference.
Pam had gone out, Norm was alone in the kiva with low tones of a slowly beating drum in the background, an effect available by pressing a button. Believe it or not, haunting (that word again) and effective. World Class.
The kiva's ceiling - this is the only kiva ceiling you're going to see. All those ruins? Not a single ceiling has survived. This one was built based upon best research.
Really a pretty complex structure. All Chacoan works reflect high level engineering skills.
Unreconstructed ruins of the rest of the greathouse.
Same.
Closeup of exterior of rhe reconstructed kiva.
We saw a half hour video at Chaco, but too late to see this one at Aztec. Catch it on You Tube.
This spooky shot, taken in the Honda's high beams, is thanks to us arriving at the Far View Lodge inside the Mesa Verde National Park in the dark. Tomorrow we'll spend the day sightseeing in the daylight.
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