Chaco Canyon
Chaco Culture National Historical Park (Chaco Canyon) is an exceptional concentration of pueblos located in a remote canyon in northwestern New Mexico. It contains a vast number of ancient ruins and preserves one of the United States’ most important precolumbian cultural and historic areas.
Chaco Canyon is way off the beaten path. Even though it is part of the National Park system, other than a small tent-like visitor center, there are few to no services in the park. It takes a bit of persistence and sense of adventure to get to Chaco. The Park Service web site indicates many GPS navigation systems lead visitors astray and onto roads that should only be driven with high clearance 4×4 vehicles. I followed the NPS advice and accessed Chaco by turning off Highway 550 at Nageezi (which was well marked) and simply followed the signs to Chaco. The first few miles of the road were paved, but I would estimate the last 15 miles or so were rutted dirt and gravel. Once in the park, there is a paved loop road that provides easy access to many of the most spectacular ruins.
My visit to Chaco Canyon was an after-thought which I timed poorly from a photographic stand point. I arrived late in the morning as I drove from Durango to Albuquerque. Needing to get to Albuquerque by early evening, I was left only to shoot Chaco for a few hours while the sun was high in the sky. The ruins against the desert back drop were either washed out in bright sun or in deep dark shadows. A late afternoon visit would have been much better for making photographs. I guess I’ll be going back . . .
Because is was hot I wanted to travel light. I carried only the Canon 5D Mark II, EF 16-35mm, and a Feisol CT-3342 carbon fiber tripod. Since access to the ruins is from designated trails only, you have very limited access points and limited points of view. However, in a few cases you can enter the ruins which are made up of very small labyrinth of rooms and kivas so the EF16-35mm was a perfect lens choice.
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Pueblo Bonito
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Chaco Doors
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Date: August 7, 2011
Categories: Architecture