Down Town Chaco

Some additional photos from our Chaco Canyon experience.

 As we hiked along the bluff above downtown chaco, we saw cactus blooming everywhere.  

Cactus flowers in bloom

Sraddha could squeeze through this crack.  I had to wedge my feet on either side to get up this crevice.

Another day, another hike, another crevice to crawl up

 Amazing how the Ancients pecked out these stairs to access the mesa from below

We didn't walk up or down these stairs.  The Ancients did tho.

 They built these buildings with no metal tools, no wheels, no 4 legged animals to haul their heavy stones and logs.  They dragged large tree timbers, sometimes over 2 feet in diameter, 50 miles from the Chuska mountains.  How did they do that?

A Ruins photo

 The ancients, on average were smaller than Sraddha.  She could fit through the doors.  I had to stoop very very low.

Admiring the masonry

 Amazing place.  Why did they settle here and flourish for 300 years?  No one really knows.  The energy is something perhaps?  We may never know.

late afternoon amidst the ruins

 800 rooms in just this one 3 acre structure.  How many people did it take to build?  Again a mystery.

Doorways to mystery

Obviously someone knew how to design.  And build.  and haul, and where did they get sufficient water for all the masonry?

Down town Chaco

Chaco Canyon

Been off the grid for past 4 days whilst in Chaco Canyon. Longer post here

120 miles west from Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch we enter into Chaco Canyon or Chaco Cultural Historical Park as it is known today. The first 100 miles were all blacktop good road through Jemez mountains and then high plateau.  The last 21 miles were dirt and gravel roads.  We expected these roads to be rough.  In fact, they used to be but most was pretty good gravel where we managed 30 mph.  the last 4 miles were soft sand washboard roads at 10-12 mph.  

South East Entrance with Zajada Butte.  Campsite behind butte

We enter from the north side.  The road turns blacktop again as it is in the whole park (all 12 miles of road.  Good thing we refueled the jeep in Cuba, New Mexico.  We had thought we would bike around but the first two days were windy.

Artsy shot of Zajada Bluff

On the second evening I drove out to southeast entrance to photograph Zajada Butte at sunset.  Saw some elk grazing in the field.  Apparently, there are a number seep springs at which the elk get water to drink. Didn't know we would see elk out here but there were at least two signs warning of them.

Our campsite at Gallo Campground. 

When we decided to drive into Chaco we were concerned that we get in there and find the campground full.  Heretofore reservations could not be made.  We called ahead to the visitor center and were told to call back in a while when they had checked the campsite.  So we trusted our intuition and drove ahead to Cuba.  Now halfway to Chaco and really out in the middle of nowhere west of Jemez Mountains, we called again.  There were 4-5 sites available.  Hmm.  Any fit us?  We will see.  We drove into Chaco and, sure enough, we found 2 open spots in which we could fit.  Whew. eaney, meaney, miney mo. we selected one and enjoyed it.  Despite being in the middle and facing the cliffs, the other campsites were mostly occupied by tent campers so the view was unobstructed. 

We toured the grounds and stopped at the visitors center and a couple minor ruins that first day.  Very windy and we felt beaten up by both the drive and the wind.  We hunkered down back in the RV for dinner, reading and early bed.

The next day, our first big hike was to the Mesa overlooking downtown Chaco. Called the Pueblo Alto loop it featured a dramatic climb up through a narrow rock split to the top of the mesa then a loop along the mesa then back across the mesa to the Pueblo Alto Ruins.

Hiking up through this narrow split rock trail

As you can see it is quite narrow and steep.  The Chacoans used this route to access the north roads out of canyon and built a big pueblo on top.

Climbing through this canyon

 We climbed up about 250 feet through narrow split rock canyon.  I almost had to turn sideways.  Imagined the Chacoans climbing up here.  They were, on average, smaller than Sraddha.  Easey Peasey for them.

View from the top.  See out Jeep down below?

 Once on top the views were stunning in all directions.  We could see the 60-70 miles distant.  Jemez Mountains in east, Chuska Mountains (Arizona border) in west, snow capped San Juan Mountains in Colorado in North.

Sandstone Mesa

The mesa is all sandstone with lots of shrimp and oyster fossils from a bygone age.  This area used to be an ancient seashore.

Ancient burrowing shrimp fossils in sandstone

The mesa also offers an overview of downtown Chaco.  Pueblo Bonito had over 800 rooms.  At the height of a festival season, there might be several thousand visitors at one time.  Permanent residents might have been a few hundred.

Overlooking Pueblo Bonito  3 acres of rooms

The ruins were pretty amazing.  I am not a big "let's go see ancient ruins" guy but this was really a site to behold.  We had fun imagining what it must have been like 1,000 years ago when Chaco Canyon was the spiritual and cultural center of the ancient Pueblans.

We continued our hike around the mesa.  Saw this little "garden" as Sraddha said.  All kinds of coloeed algae and plants.  Lots of flowers.  Even got buzzed by a broad tailed hummingbird who thought we were encroaching on his flower field.

Sandstone "garden"

We spent 3 nights in Chaco Canyon.  Wonderful sunsets, cold mornings, windy and warm days, sore feet.  We hiked 80% of the trails.  Now we have departed with a better sense of perspective on an ancient culture.   We learned a lot about the what's, a little about the how's (more next post), and almost nothing about the why of the origins of this culture and it's fate.  Clues have been unearthed by archeologists but nothing definite.  Chaco remains an amazing place and a mystery which may never be solved.  But worth visiting.

The Ghost Ranch

Georgia Okeefe first visited Ghost Ranch back in 1920’s then later purchased a home on 7 acres near this dude ranch. 

The Ghost Ranch Logo (shot with my new Olympus Camera)

 She had fallen in love with New Mexico and this was her place for spring and summer months before returning to New York.  

Sight above Ghost Ranch campsite at sunset

She remodeled and added on to her home situated amongst the sandstone bluffs overlooking the valley against which her beloved Pedernal sat as a backdrop to the south.  

The Pedernal.  West side of Vias Caldera

Quite a scene.  Her place was far away from the “dudes” as she called them.  She could walk or drive out in the desert to do her paintings at the rate of one every three weeks.

Ghost Ranch today, is a conference and retreat center run by the Presbyterian Church hosting as many as 450 campers at once during the busy summer months.  We arrived on a blustery cold spring day to find a few retreat-ants walking about.  We checked in at the Welcome center, verified out tour for later that day and headed to the campground.  We had the our pick of spots, settling across from bathhouse. on a level site with electricity.  The few of the surrounding cliffs were nothing short of amazing.

We ate lunch then headed back to welcome center for the after tour of the landscapes which Georgia painted.  

The tour guide, a young woman from Texas, took us into an off limits area where we viewed Georgia’s home from afar and saw several of the landmarks which she painted. 

Roadside Photo Op

  Gerald's Tree, Chimney Rocks among the many with Pedernal in the distance.

Gerald's Tree with Chimney Rocks in distance

Seeing this area first hand, we came away with an even deeper appreciation for her art.  She captured the essence of the land.  And Sraddha remarked as it was “no wonder Georgia needed 40 different shades of green paint”.

Sunset reflections on the Chinle

The evening we went up onto a finger of land to view the sunset in all directions.  I shot some pix with both the big Canon on a tripod and little Olympus cameras handheld.

Chimney Rocks.  Famous scene she painted

One of the most compelling paintings I remember was the one we saw at Heard Museum in Phoenix of "Chama River". I wanted to find the setting she used and did.  It is on the highway en route to Ghost Ranch north of Abiquiu.  I shot this photo.  I don't have painting to show you for comparison.  It is the place. Mission accomplished.

Chama River Bend

One thing stood out.  how quiet it is here.  We saw no planes fly overhead.  No military planes, no passenger jets 36,000 ft high.  this is off the flight path.  It is way back in a canyon.  At this time of year with only maybe 100 people here, we felt alone and peaceful.

Virgina's Warbler  - Our first sighting ever.  Shot with new Olympus Camera

We saw the last sunset last night.  here it is.

Off to the next adventure

Bandelier, Vias Caldera and ELK!

Santa Fe, the state capital, offered us a place to restock, get medicines, perform routine service on the RV and eat some great New Mexican Food.  We found an RV park on the south side of town.  First day we arrived, the weather was balmy 70ish with slight breeze.  

Los Alamos with Wheeler Peak in background (highest point in NM)

The next day, Friday, we expected decent weather so we day tripped up to Bandelier National Monument in the deep Frijoles canyon southwest of Los Alamos National Laboratories. 

This area provides evidence of human habitation as far back as 10,000 years and was home of a large population of Ancient Pueblan People (aka Anazasi) upwards of over 2,000 during its heyday back in 1200 AD.

Porous Cliffs

We hiked through the ruins set both on the canyon floor and high up in the porous cave walls, 

Huge Kiva and circlular downtown area below

Yes, I made the climb also

eventually climbing up 130 ft of ladders to reach the highest Kiva in the park.

So did Sraddha

We hiked an additional half mile up the canyon to see a kiva which overlooked the canyon.

Kiva overlook

Unfortunately, as with Guadalupe Mountains National Park canyons, the canyon floor had been decimated in many places during the big floods August of 2013.  Same storm which we all heard about in Colorado.  Nature can display an amazing force when she wants to.

Flooded out canyon floor

We ate lunch in nearby White Rock at this newly opened organic healthy coffee/lunch place.  Yum  Very nice young people trying to eck out a living in the pumice rocks on the edge of the Caldera.

We drove higher up the Caldera in the Jemez Mountains. About 160-200 million years ago this Vias Caldera blew its top with a force over 200 times that of Mt St Helens back in 1980. 

The resultant ash fallout, or “tuff” was, in some places, over 1,000 ft deep.  It is what formed Frijoles Canyon in Bandolier with the porous walls. 

We drove through Los Alamos National Laboratories area seeing many laboratories, satellite dishes, and offices where not only weapons research continues but many other research activities.  Along the trail in Bandelier, I struck a conversation with a mathematician who works at Los Alamos on the mathematics and statistics behind nuclear proliferation treaties and also climate control treaties.  These are some of the positive sides of Los Alamos.

Vias Caldera Valley

Venturing further up the road we eventually crest the pass at 9600 ft elevation.  We can feel this elevation in our bodies.  Much different than even 9,000 ft as we descend into the Vias caldera wherein a large grassy valley has formed with mountains on all sides.  12,000 ft peaks surround the caldera.  This is the sister Caldera to the one in Yellowstone, both having their same roots deep in the earths core. Amazing what the scientists have been able to deduce.

We drive a few miles past this high valley to Jemez river.  More like a creek at this early stage, the east fork of the Jemez cuts through leftover rock which hadn’t been blown out during the previous volcanic eruptions.  Spruce, fir, pine, juniper trees line the canyon with great climbing rocks all around.  We are mesmerized with this little mini canyon as we walk along the quite creek, crossing several times as it meanders downwards towards the Rio Grande 100’s of miles south.

East fork of Jemez River

We return along the edge of the valley where the Elk are grazing in the evening light.  A local told me that these elk were originally transplanted here from Yellowstone back in the 1950’s.  We find a small herd grazing near a spring and stop to take some photos.  the herd has grown to over 100,000 elk in the state and sometimes, near dusk, you can see 1,000’s of elk out on this valley floor.  Today we saw only this handful but I let my imagination roam as to what  this valley would look like filled with elk herds in the fall, the Bull Elk bugling, and fighting for dominance.

 It's spring.  Elk without antlers. Wait til Fall for the big racks

A truly amazing place we never explored before.  Nature sure has a lot of interesting surprises for us.  Today was no exception.

           

Amazing cliffs

Santa Fe

Back in a big city. Well, not that big but bigger than almost every other place we have been for past month.  Actually we have already departed Santa Fe but pretend we are here now. Too cold most of the time to really get out much.  We restocked the larder, got the RV serviced, ate some wonderful food.

Old railyard where farmers market is located

I must say it was a bit of an adjustment to be in a faster paced energy here.

Basilica of St Francis of Assis.  Parton Saint of Santa Fe

Also it is a bit more expensive than other places.

Some cool painted posts

Vendors on the central plaza

We noticed this today at the Whole Foods Market. When I went out to resupply our drinking water, the machines charge $0.30 per gallon where everywhere else we have been charges only $0.25 per gallon.  A little thing, yes, however, indicative of higher costs.










 We did go out to eat every night, our one indulgence.

Cafe Pasquale.  Home of the Best Chile Relleno EVER!

Fuel is about the same all over New Mexico right now at $3.43 per gallon. Cheaper than Moab, from what can see.

From inside the Baslica

New Mexico, in the Spring, has two kinds of weather,  windy and very windy.  We try to plan our excursions when it is only windy or breezy (less than 20 mph). Very windy (30+ mph gusting to 45-50 mph) are days when the chill creeps through our senior citizen bones so we try to spend those days indoors.  One day we visited the State Capital where legislature and governor have offices.  The artwork was the compelling reason. I didn't take a lot of photos of the art but here are a couple

           

Notice the materials used here

From one of the moon walks

Our stay in Santa Fe began with balmy weather so we headed out side up to Vaias Caldera and Bandelier for a day.  The next day we had scheduled the RV to be in for routine service the wind came up, so we headed indoors spending much of the day in the public library. Sraddha wasn’t feeling well so needed quiet.  I had work to do with the online Ananda Library so what better place than a public library with internet access.

Cottonwoods by Georgia Okeefe

 One day we visited the Georgia Okeefe museum.  Always different.  There was an exhibit of Okeefe and Ansel Adams in Hawaii.  Couldn't take pix though.

Gerogia's cook book collection in orginal boxes 

Saw this unusual parking sign outside the library.  Turns out it is not DOT sanctioned.  Still real fun

Am doing this quick post.  Honestly because of the weather we didn't take a lot of photos.  Too cccccooolddddd. I had hoped to shoot a lot of color.  Next time.