Chaco Canyon

10/7/09

Dark and lonely rural road late at night. No one else around as we drove along, static playing intermittently on the radio scanning for a station - any station. "Make a right up here." We turned just as another set of headlights appeared coming toward us. They turned to follow. They appeared to be catching up. I didn't say a word, but I knew what Michael was thinking. He had watched one too many horror movies. As the car following gained on us, Michael pushed the gas pedal closer to the floor. And he wonders why I don't watch those types of movies. "Our turn is coming up." I hoped the car wouldn't make this turn also - Michael's paranoia was rubbing off on me. We turned, the other car continued on. whew. But that would not be the last of our concerns. The last 20 miles to Chaco Canyon were on a heavily potholed and washboarded dirt road. If we broke an axle out here . . . I don't want to think about what would have happened. Sure, someone would have come along at some point.

As the next day dawned, we were rewarded with Chaco Canyon and its wondrous ruins. I saw my first pueblo ruins while in New Mexico several years ago and was enraptured by the story and the fantasy of it all. Walking through the ruins of the Chaco Culture only emboldened the images in my mind. Here was a valley filled with communities large and small of lives lived centuries ago.

There are 6 pueblos along the road through Chaco Canyon all within easy walking distance of each other. We meandered from one to the other, stopping to observe petroglyphs on the sandstone cliffs or watch the Cliff Sparrows flit in and out of their nests. We had a wonderful morning speculating what the drawings meant or how the ancient people lived. All the while we wondered when we could come back to explore the 6 backcountry ruins.

We both became fascinated with the different construction methods - how the bricks were laid, the wood supports. Including how these structures have been able to stand over the elements and the years. Time and weather have taken their toll and we watched as park employees worked on shoring up the crumbling walls. It may be race against inevitability,but while the structures last, we have a small window to view a past in all our lives.