Chaco Culture National Historic Park

[docsouce]

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 these sites very early in the morning. I see Route 57 runs through the park. Will it bring us close enough ,1 mile round trip, to the points of interest? My wife can't hike much more than that. We will camp around Grant I think. Would like to camp in the park but need 30 amp for the a/c. Thinking of heading here after spending a couple of days at the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert area. Work our way to Route 53 from Holbrook to Grant and stay at the KOA (Maybe). As always your thoughts are appreciated.

[lbrjet]

We stayed in Bloomfield at Desert Rose for both Aztec and Chaco. I would never bring my RV to Chaco. Terrible road. Structures were unbelievable and are a must see.

[Bigdog]

I have been there several times also dating back to the middle ages, well late 50's coming home from Ghost Ranch with my parents and a couple of trips by myself. The road from 550 is probably the worst washboard I have ever seen and there is no way that I'd take a rv in there. That said, Chaco is one of those DON'T MISS destinations and is worth the drive in. I have camped in a tent there and that gives you extra walking around time instead of driving in and out. Was there the day after Easter one year and the campgrounds were full and folks were pitching tents,etc in the overflow campground and the visitor center parking lot. In the morning,the restrooms were packed because they had electric heat and the temp got down to low 20's.

[rbtglove]

We went through from north and excited from the south. Very rough both ways takes a long time. We stayed over a couple nights a great experience when the sun sets. Ancient ruins are very near the campground.

[2gypsies1]

Here's the park's website on the roads. If in doubt, call the park:

https://www.nps.gov/chcu/planyourvisit/directions.htm

From I-40 west of Grants, take 371 north to Farmington and continue to Bloomfield for an RV park... much better than staying in Grant. Then drive to Chaco from there if you want to get an early start.

Agree... the Aztec ruins in nearby Aztec are well worth a visit. You could easily drive and take your RV to Mesa Verde National Park, CO from here also. Just change your route back home from Cortez, CO (Mesa Verde) and take 160 east to Durango/Pagosa Springs. If you wanted to get back on I-40 east from Pagosa take 84 towards Chama and south to Santa Fe then 285 south to I-40 east. Hwy 84 has a couple nice Corp of Engineer Parks for camping. Abiquiu is good and it's in the heart of the painter - O'Keefe's hangouts - beautiful scenery. There so many gorgeous drives to take in that whole area rather than being on I-40! You could even work in Taos. You're going home too early!!

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

Aztec Ruins was our destination the day we chose to detour off US-550 to Chaco Culture.

Aztec Ruins is an amazing place. A top 25 must see location in my opinion.

However, Chaco Culture is much more expansive, and covers a larger area, and shows the changes over centuries that Aztec does not in my opinion.

Chaco is comparable to Mesa Verde as far as a native American ruins site in my view. Just much flatter.

[Roy_Lynne]

Check this out
Personally I wouldn't attempt it if you only want to go for a day trip in the morning. There are some great alternatives like Aztec Ruins National Monument that are closer to civilization.

[ppine]

I have been going to Chaco Canyon for years. It is one of the best celestial monuments in North America, a highly spritual place and worth visiting for sure. Last time I was there the approach from several directions was not paved and subject to summer thunderstorms. I do not know of any hookups nearby.

Check the roads carefully. It is a rewarding place to visit.

[agesilaus]

I don't know what map you are looking at, but the access road is a long, I'm not sure how long but I guess 15 mile, dirt road. Depending on when it was last graded the quality runs from OK with soft spots to a rutted horror. I would not take a RV across that road unless I drove it first in my truck. The nearest FHU CG would be in Bloomfield NM.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

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.