The road to Chaco Canyon, New Mexico is definitely off the beaten path.
Chaco Canyon is one of the most important Native American historic sites in the southwest. Multiple well-preserved great house ruins are accessible to view and walk through. Some are three stories high, and the largest is Pueblo Bonito with 3 great kivas, multiple smaller kivas, and over 350 rooms.
These masonry buildings date back from 1000 to 1150 A.D., approximately contemporary with the construction of Ankor Wat in Cambodia and Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. Chaco Canyon is older than the more famous historic site, Mesa Verde.
The Chacoan people, also called Anasazi, built incredible great houses and very straight improved roads leading to Chaco Canyon, which were used for pilgrimage to the canyon for ceremonial gathering. These people are the ancestors of many modern day Native American tribes.
The national park visitor center at Chaco Canyon is first rate, with a museum to explain the culture and history of the people who gathered here.
It isn’t easy to reach Chaco Canyon, but it is worth the effort. We drove into the canyon on from Albuquerque, taking I-40 west, then New Mexico roads 605, 509, and finally 57, which is also marked as Navajo Service Rd. 9. Roads 605 and 509 are small, paved two-lane highways, but once you turn north on 57, you have 18 miles of unpaved washboard road. There are several places where the road appears to be smooth rock that would be slick in the rain.
We left the canyon driving east on 7950 and then 7900 to Hwy 550 to turn north on our way to Colorado. However, the easterly route is also about 3 hours from Albuquerque. I can attest that the roads are equally bad no matter which route you take to the canyon, and so I am glad we took both routes to see different scenery. Taking the road east to 550, you have about 15 miles of washboard road bumps. I suggest looking at Google maps in advance, inspecting the satellite view, and printing a map or take screen shots for when you don’t have service. If we had not researched the route, we would have questioned whether we were lost on the way. Bring plenty of water and know how to change a flat tire, if needed.
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