Chaco Culture National Historic Park
Thinking of adding this park to our New Mexico visit. Did some research on it and looks interesting. However since we will be in the area in July, the hottest time on the year, our plan is to visit th...
Forum Discussion
We visited the park in Oct 2016.
I do not know the condition of Hwy 57 to the south of the park.
We came in and exited from the road to the east that connects with US 550. The loop road and the roads in the park are paved. The loop road exhibits were amazing and some required very little walking. Had no trouble parking at all he stops while my trailer was attached to the pickup.
The road to the park from the east was the single toughest road I’ve seen in my life. Tougher than anything I’ve seen in countries such as Vietnam, Iran, Mexico, etc. Much of the road was a bare scraped area over native country rock. Absolutely no attempt to fill low spots, knock down high spots, etc. it took over an hour to travel the last four miles closest to the park.
I was told that Hwy 57 to the south was ‘marginally better’ by the park staff. It was their preferred route in dry weather mainly because it was a substantial shorter distance traveling to the south for shopping and other services.
There isn’t much on US 550 other than the fuel stop at the Red Eagle Casino.
Strongly encourage you to visit the park. Best with a vehicle with moderately good ground clearance, I.e. a pickup or similar. Roads might be too rough for a small sedan. Much of the entrance roads is across reservation land with absolutely no state support or maintenance.
Do not recommend traveling from the south thru the park, out the east and then traveling to Aztec or Farmington or Albuquerque for a night stop. Quite a lengthy day.
Print out the directions page from the park website and do not follow GPS directions.
I do not know the condition of Hwy 57 to the south of the park.
We came in and exited from the road to the east that connects with US 550. The loop road and the roads in the park are paved. The loop road exhibits were amazing and some required very little walking. Had no trouble parking at all he stops while my trailer was attached to the pickup.
The road to the park from the east was the single toughest road I’ve seen in my life. Tougher than anything I’ve seen in countries such as Vietnam, Iran, Mexico, etc. Much of the road was a bare scraped area over native country rock. Absolutely no attempt to fill low spots, knock down high spots, etc. it took over an hour to travel the last four miles closest to the park.
I was told that Hwy 57 to the south was ‘marginally better’ by the park staff. It was their preferred route in dry weather mainly because it was a substantial shorter distance traveling to the south for shopping and other services.
There isn’t much on US 550 other than the fuel stop at the Red Eagle Casino.
Strongly encourage you to visit the park. Best with a vehicle with moderately good ground clearance, I.e. a pickup or similar. Roads might be too rough for a small sedan. Much of the entrance roads is across reservation land with absolutely no state support or maintenance.
Do not recommend traveling from the south thru the park, out the east and then traveling to Aztec or Farmington or Albuquerque for a night stop. Quite a lengthy day.
Print out the directions page from the park website and do not follow GPS directions.
