spring 2024, Chaco Canyon, Bandelier National Monument, and Grand Canyon south rim
After Utah Dan and I drove to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico to meet Bob who drove up from Austin. We visited the ruins and took a nice hike above the canyon to other, higher, newer ruins. Chaco is often said to be one of the centers of the Chacoan world, and was inhabited from about 850 to nearly 1150. There's a variety of architecture in the ruins and unlike ruins in many places, visitors can enter part of the very large Pueblo Bonito as well as the ruins up higher. Pueblo Bonito was inhabited for a longer period than any others in the area though Pueblo Alto was inhabited after Bonito was abandoned, but not by much.
The roads to the monument are terrible so don't plan on flying down the road because there's so little traffic. There were times when moving at idle was too fast, especially pulling my little camping trailer. Once inside the park the roads are fine. The north entry road is bad but the south, as one ranger said, "should not be open". We were told that the north road is graded in mid to late April so there are a few weeks of decent driving but I don't know if that rumor is true.
Bandelier was inhabited long before the more recent civilization which was there from 1100-1550. For a long while they lived in small groups, 1-2 families, scattered all around. They gradually built large structures and carved homes into the cliffs in soft stone. It's a beautiful, wooded canyon but can be very crowded. The campground is nice too.
Bob left us and after visiting some old friends in Santa Fe Dan and I drove across Arizona and realized that we had an extra day so we took a side trip to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. I'd not been to that side and it's spectacular, even if it is more like Disneyland, even in March, than like a wilderness. Again, we got lucky and had a great campsite. It snowed overnight. From there we drove west then north through Nevada. I met my family in Carson City for my father-in-law's 100th birthday. Dan went on home to Oregon.
The roads to the monument are terrible so don't plan on flying down the road because there's so little traffic. There were times when moving at idle was too fast, especially pulling my little camping trailer. Once inside the park the roads are fine. The north entry road is bad but the south, as one ranger said, "should not be open". We were told that the north road is graded in mid to late April so there are a few weeks of decent driving but I don't know if that rumor is true.
Bandelier was inhabited long before the more recent civilization which was there from 1100-1550. For a long while they lived in small groups, 1-2 families, scattered all around. They gradually built large structures and carved homes into the cliffs in soft stone. It's a beautiful, wooded canyon but can be very crowded. The campground is nice too.
Bob left us and after visiting some old friends in Santa Fe Dan and I drove across Arizona and realized that we had an extra day so we took a side trip to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. I'd not been to that side and it's spectacular, even if it is more like Disneyland, even in March, than like a wilderness. Again, we got lucky and had a great campsite. It snowed overnight. From there we drove west then north through Nevada. I met my family in Carson City for my father-in-law's 100th birthday. Dan went on home to Oregon.