Chaco road?

Do a search on this topic. You'll find lots of good reading. The road is usually very wash boarded to the point that it will rattle your dentures out not to mention anything not tied down in the RV. Haven't driven it is several years, but I doubt anything has changed. Oh, if it has been raining, don't even think about it!

Never been down that road myself, but there was a thread sometime back in the truck camper section. Fellow had so much trouble with the wash board road he ruined a Bilstein shock on his truck.

One can only hope that some sort of road-grader maintenance has been done to alleviate this problem.

Yes to class C. We were there the last week of Sept. last year, saw several Class As and Cs,

We waited half a day up in Farmington for rain to let up, probably should have waited another day. The road going in was still muddy and slick as driving on ice for vehicles of all sizes. Had to go very slow to avoid sliding into ditches on both sides. There's no shoulder to turn around and go back. Glad when we reached the paved NP roads.

The road gets graded by the county periodically, but it's very rutted. The camp host suggested getting up to about 45 to ride the tops of the ruts (rather than go slow, down into them repeatedly.) That worked well leaving on the dry road. Dry is no big deal, wet is scary.

It will not be paved, by the way. Proposal to do so was defeated last year by local opponents after funding in place and several years of study.

The rangers are happy to take phone calls about road conditions. Very nice folks there.

As of this year, you can reserve sites. Recreation.gov. Beats driving that road and wondering if Gallo Campground will be full when you get there.

Wonderful experience to see the canyon.

We drove it last summer towing our TT. I called the Ranger Station that morning to check on conditions. It was slow going but we had no problems. The campground had much bigger rigs than ours there. It was so worth it! lizzie

Been to Chaco twice - once from the north and once from the south. NO trouble UNLESS you get in a hurry!! BUT - don't try it if it is, or has just been, raining!!

NCWriter wrote:
Yes to class C. We were there the last week of Sept. last year, saw several Class As and Cs,

We waited half a day up in Farmington for rain to let up, probably should have waited another day. The road going in was still muddy and slick as driving on ice for vehicles of all sizes. Had to go very slow to avoid sliding into ditches on both sides. There's no shoulder to turn around and go back. Glad when we reached the paved NP roads.

The road gets graded by the county periodically, but it's very rutted. The camp host suggested getting up to about 45 to ride the tops of the ruts (rather than go slow, down into them repeatedly.) That worked well leaving on the dry road. Dry is no big deal, wet is scary.

It will not be paved, by the way. Proposal to do so was defeated last year by local opponents after funding in place and several years of study.

The rangers are happy to take phone calls about road conditions. Very nice folks there.

As of this year, you can reserve sites. Recreation.gov. Beats driving that road and wondering if Gallo Campground will be full when you get there.

Wonderful experience to see the canyon.

How many RV spots?

SOooo...if We don't fix the roads...they don't get fixed?

Was at Chaco last Wed to Fri. Two hours from home. They just bladed the road while we were there. Pretty rough after the winter, pretty good after they bladed it. Depending on when you go, it may be washboarded again by then. We take a Truck and cabover camper along with a jeep to explore with. Was a nice class A at the visitor's center when we left. It is 18 miles of gravel or dirt road from end of pavement to park boundary. For a county kid, I think it is a pretty fair road most of the time, for a pavement follower, it may seem a bit rough. There is no issues other than just bumpy. 30 foot widths, about 6 miles of good gravel and mag chloride making good hardtop and dust control. Rest is pretty good most of the time for rural country out west.

On the camping, it has about 45 spots including the tent only spaces (about 25 RV spaces). Limited length for RV's with only a few being 35 foot, most are in the 20's. Pads are level gravel and wide enough for two vehicles side by side (a little tight). No hookups but does have a dump station. Rest rooms with flush toilets, no showers. Limited generator usage. No other services like fuel or snacks. There were a 35'ish Class A and 30 ft Class C their last week. Check Reservations.gov for layout and details

The photo is of the RV area. The tent area is close up and out to left. Our rig is deep left.
Questions, drop me a PM or post here

SheepCamp wrote:
Was at Chaco last Wed to Fri. Two hours from home. They just bladed the road while we were there. Pretty rough after the winter, pretty good after they bladed it. Depending on when you go, it may be washboarded again by then. We take a Truck and cabover camper along with a jeep to explore with. Was a nice class A at the visitor's center when we left. It is 18 miles of gravel or dirt road from end of pavement to park boundary. For a county kid, I think it is a pretty fair road most of the time, for a pavement follower, it may seem a bit rough. There is no issues other than just bumpy. 30 foot widths, about 6 miles of good gravel and mag chloride making good hardtop and dust control. Rest is pretty good most of the time for rural country out west.

On the camping, it has about 45 spots including the tent only spaces (about 25 RV spaces). Limited length for RV's with only a few being 35 foot, most are in the 20's. Pads are level gravel and wide enough for two vehicles side by side (a little tight). No hookups but does have a dump station. Rest rooms with flush toilets, no showers. Limited generator usage. No other services like fuel or snacks. There were a 35'ish Class A and 30 ft Class C their last week. Check Reservations.gov for layout and details

The photo is of the RV area. The tent area is close up and out to left. Our rig is deep left.
Questions, drop me a PM or post here

Thanks, learned a lot. I'll be there in a month.

SheepCamp wrote:
Was at Chaco last Wed to Fri. Two hours from home. They just bladed the road while we were there. Pretty rough after the winter, pretty good after they bladed it. Depending on when you go, it may be washboarded again by then. We take a Truck and cabover camper along with a jeep to explore with. Was a nice class A at the visitor's center when we left. It is 18 miles of gravel or dirt road from end of pavement to park boundary. For a county kid, I think it is a pretty fair road most of the time, for a pavement follower, it may seem a bit rough. There is no issues other than just bumpy. 30 foot widths, about 6 miles of good gravel and mag chloride making good hardtop and dust control. Rest is pretty good most of the time for rural country out west.

On the camping, it has about 45 spots including the tent only spaces (about 25 RV spaces). Limited length for RV's with only a few being 35 foot, most are in the 20's. Pads are level gravel and wide enough for two vehicles side by side (a little tight). No hookups but does have a dump station. Rest rooms with flush toilets, no showers. Limited generator usage. No other services like fuel or snacks. There were a 35'ish Class A and 30 ft Class C their last week. Check Reservations.gov for layout and details

The photo is of the RV area. The tent area is close up and out to left. Our rig is deep left.
Questions, drop me a PM or post here

Went there a month back, very nice site to park. Came in the south side road was poor, went of the east side wash board for 8 mile or so, then much better. I drove 40 to 45 when I could, less time better ride. They plan to pave the east part later. We have a Ford 450E 29 ft. B+ HR. Everyone should go if possible. They had a evening show on some stars, it was fair. Went to another star show three weeks later in Alpine, Az. libary that was the best I have ever seen, put on by a man from Tx. Thanks to Sheepcamp