Chaco Canyon

One goal of our hiking in Chaco Canyon was to do all-sky photography of an Anasazi pictograph said to depict the early morning events of July 4, 1054 A.D., when the crescent Moon and a bright star (thought to be the supernova that formed the Crab Nebula in Taurus) lined up along the eastern horizon. The scene was painted onto a stone overhang and signed with the artist's palm print. It is also thought that the fingers of the hand point to the eastern horizon along which the supernova flare could be seen before dawn.

One reason for the choice of Chaco Canyon: Mark had recorded music about the place, on his album Geodesium Anasazi — but he had not been there until now! (If you click on the album cover, it will load a playlist with three MP3 samples of this album, assuming you have Winamp as your player.) It can provide some accompaniment while you look at the pages. Mark says, now that he's been there, the music might be a bit more dramatic than the place actually is. "I had kinda thought it'd be a bit more mountainous, maybe more like Monument Valley or the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde. But it's pretty flat and open, not really like the Grand Canyon, for example. Plenty of red sandstone and all, though!"

Learn more about Chaco Culture National Historical Park (opens in a separate window).

We arrived in New Mexico on the afternoon of Oct. 1st. After dinner at one of our favorite places — the Range in Bernalillo — we drove up to Nageezi and checked in at the Inn@the Post bed and breakfast.

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Inn@the Post	This is a small three-bedroom bed and breakfast just outside the entrance to the park. It was comfortable and very homey. We shared it one night with another couple, but otherwise had the place to ourselves. Each morning we were greeted by the dogs who lived with the family that ran the bed and breakfast — and the nearby post office and trading post.

Fajada Butte morning	This butte is the first major piece of the park you see as you drive in. It has a solstice marker carved into a stone near the top, but the site is archaeologically and geologically fragile so is closed to the public. It stands sentinel at the center of the canyon a couple of miles from the Park visitors' center.
Carolyn in the Canyon	The hike out to the supernova pictograph site is along the wash that runs from northwest to southeast forming the canyon. The canyon is a mile or two across, bounded on east and west by stone cliffs that range up a hundred or more from the canyon floor. The first hike was about 3 miles as the crow flies, but the trail covers more ground than that.	Mark with a backpack full of camera equipment, water bottle, and sunblock!
View of the park	This is a look back toward the southern end of the park from the middle of the wash. It was rainy season in the park, and the flowers and bushes were greening up and blooming all over. In some places the trees were changing color, too. It was easy to see how a flash flood could rush through this area — as signs everywhere warned us. You can see evidence of flash flooding all around. It's a wonder the flowers survive as well as they do.	Flowers in bloom in Chaco Wash
Hidin' in the rocks at Chaco Canyon	As we hiked along the eastern edge of the canyon we ran across cracks in the rock walls and places where centuries of inhabitants had cut greetings into the stone. This little "cavelet" proved to be an irresistable shelter from the Sun. Not far away we found a wall of pictographs stretching up nearly 50 feet. The cliff was crawling with pictographs and all we had to do was stroll along and look at them!	Standing stones — Chaco style
Pictographs	They may be kind of hard to see, but here's a sampling of some of the pictographs we saw along the way.	Admiring the pictographs along the trail.
Preparing an all-sky shoot at a pictograph wall along the way	Here's Mark doing an all-sky shoot at a rock face filled with pictographs. We could use this in an planetarium program to create a sort of 'you are there' environment. Or not.	Canyon wall all-sky photograph

Pictographs! Supernova, Venus and crescent Moon	Well, we finally got to the actual supernova pictograph ledge. There it is — a star, a crescent moon and a hand. Pretty neat and you'd never know it was there. The brown little "baggy" looking things are cliff swallows' nests.
Carolyn at the supernova pictograph site	By the time we arrived at the supernova site, the weather had turned warm, but not hot — still, we took a little break before setting up the next shoot.	Mark at the supernova site
Mark preparing to shoot a pictograph all sky	Mark doing a series of all sky photos of the pictographs. Take only pictures, leave only footprints.	Supernova pictograph all-sky
Carolyn reproducing the artist's hand	Okay, so you have to wonder how the artist painted the scene and then got his hand up there... the whole scene is a good 15-20 feet overhead.	And Mark's take on how the artist's hand was REALLY pointed.

Our main mission accomplished, we had a snack and then started back. We arrived back at the car and checked our watches. Sure enough, it was a 4.5-hour hike!

After some rest and refreshment, we set out to visit the many Anasazi ruin sites in the park.

Carolyn at Casa Rinconada	Casa Rinconada appears to be a ceremonial building in Chaco Canyon. It has a series of windows built into its stone walls that appear line up with sunrise locations at various times of the year. Tourists can walk around the outside, but are not allowed inside the kiva structure. We got there about 5 p.m. when the Sun was starting to sink behind the mesas to the west. The weather was wonderful and there weren't a lot of people at the park at that time of day.	Mark at Casa Rinconada
Mark playing peek-a-boo at Casa Rinconada		Looking across Chaco Canyon from Casa Rinconada

Carolyn at Pueblo Bonito	Our last visit of the day at Chaco Canyon was to a ruin called Pueblo Bonito. It was one of Chaco's Great Houses, almost a small town built in stone and masonry.	Here Mark is walking behind the back wall of the city.
Mark shooting an all-sky at Pueblo Bonito	It was still light enough out so we decided to try for a few last all sky photos before we headed back to the Inn.	All-sky at Pueblo Bonito

Chaco Visitors' Center and observatory	Not long ago a group of people got together and built an observatory out behind the Visitors' Center at Chaco. During summer there are star parties and stargazing sessions held some incredibly dark skies!
Fajada Butte	Fajada Butte after sunset — the end of a great day of hiking and photography!