Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

Issue #062 - The Bisti Wilderness, New Mexico

South of Farmington, New Mexico, in the Four Corners region, lies the ruins of the largest Anasazi community in the American Southwest. Scattered across a twenty-mile-long canyon are the ruins of two-thousand prehistoric dwellings. The largest of these, Pueblo Bonito, flourished in the early 1100s, when it stood four-stories high and contained six hundred rooms. Skilled Chacoan masons worked with precision and care to create vast communal buildings. These walls are solid and doorways are still straight and true after standing more than a thousand years. Remains of the red stone walls glow in morning and afternoon light. Shadows keep moving across the walls, creating new compositions. Most roofs and ceilings have collapsed long ago, so rooms are open to the sky. There are two long, rough dirt roads leading into Chaco. No services are available in the canyon. Plan to camp while photographing the ruins.