Chaco Canyon well worth the drive!

Just visited Chaco last week and it truly lived up to the descriptions. The road is bad, at least the middle 4 miles of the 13 miles of dirt. Not a place to take an RV, unless a rental (LOL, as we saw them inside the park). Park Ranger told me about 35K people visit a year, low visit rate due mostly to the bad roads. Many don't want to change it; the Park Rangers want it paved. All the roads in the park are paved. The Navajo don't want it paved and they own the land around Chaco. We stayed a few nights at Desert Rose in Bloomfield (everything as promised per website). It was a nice place as we were only there in the evenings. If in the Bloomfield area, go north 10 miles to Aztec and see those ruins (takes about 1 hour to see it all). Much smaller than Chaco, but without the bad road and without spend the whole day on the adventure.

crabbin cabin wrote:

jolooote wrote:
Y hasn't the park service fixed the road?

Because MOST of the road is NOT in the National Park!
And most of us who have been there prefer that it stay that way to keep most "lookey-seers" discouraged??

Ditto.

jolooote wrote:
Crabbin, Sorry if us older(+67)"Lookey Seers" interest in 'YOUR park" has offended you.

jolooote, I think the point crabbin was trying to make, was that those that have been to Chaco, at least the visitors I have spoken with, do NOT want the road improved. This concept is hard to understand for some people until one has visited the park. The place is so unique and one of the true places left that you can find absolute quiet, that the thought of improving the road is just not an option. Yes, things will shake loose in your rv and you will get some dust inside and don't try and cross the river crossing after it has rained, but I encourage you to visit Chaco if possible.

NCWriter, Autumn is a great time to visit, my favorite time to be there. Summer is much too hot and the Fall evenings are crisp. If things are like they were the last time I was there, plan your trip for the Autumn Equinox. You will be treated to a real show if you enjoy people watching. My last visit was during Equinox and a group from California was in there beating drums around a group campfire and facing the morning sunrise and chanting. Apparently, they believe Chaco to be a vortex or power point on Earth, etc. Anyway, my six year old daughter got a real charge out of the whole thing. Each to his own, I guess.

Tim

Bigdog wrote:
I have been there twice solo and stayed in a tent and it doesn't matter what you stay in,yes,it is an amazing experience. Plan on several days to do all the hiking you can to the various sites. There are some stiff uphills on a couple of trails to get to the top of the mesas,but they are basically short and the rest of the hike is basically level.
The first time I was there it dropped down to 20 degrees at night and it took me 30 minutes to get out of the bag and down to the restroom which I found to be packed as it had electric heat.The guy camped across from me had two large german shepards that were doing a bit of barking and growling at something after dark and in the morning the owner found them curled up under his pickup and they didn't want to come out. Don't know what they were growling at,but I guess they decided that discretion was better than valor.

Read Louis L'Amour's "Haunted Mesa"...that may give you some insight to what freaked out the dogs.

Crabbin, Sorry if us older(+67)"Lookey Seers" interest in 'YOUR park" has offended you.

The campgound at Chaco is lots of fun because everyone there drove that road and has stories to tell. It is lovely in the evening as everyone walks about sharing what they did that day. It reminded me of the way camping used to be.lizzie

I have been there twice solo and stayed in a tent and it doesn't matter what you stay in,yes,it is an amazing experience. Plan on several days to do all the hiking you can to the various sites. There are some stiff uphills on a couple of trails to get to the top of the mesas,but they are basically short and the rest of the hike is basically level.
The first time I was there it dropped down to 20 degrees at night and it took me 30 minutes to get out of the bag and down to the restroom which I found to be packed as it had electric heat.The guy camped across from me had two large german shepards that were doing a bit of barking and growling at something after dark and in the morning the owner found them curled up under his pickup and they didn't want to come out. Don't know what they were growling at,but I guess they decided that discretion was better than valor.

jolooote wrote:
Y hasn't the park service fixed the road?

Because MOST of the road is NOT in the National Park!
And most of us who have been there prefer that it stay that way to keep most "lookey-seers" discouraged??

Y hasn't the park service fixed the road?

Don't miss it....