I’ve probably told this story once too many times, but these trips of discovery where we careen through the landscape with the sole objective of becoming oriented with what’s what and what’s where are sometimes tinged with a tiny bit of regret that we don’t have more time to immerse ourselves in a place that is so fascinating that a couple of hours will never do justice to our experience and knowledge. Chaco Culture National Historical Park is just one of those places.

There’s an enormous amount of history to learn of here and the complexes that make up this abandoned site. From ground level to the kivas below and above the cliffs where ancient trails and other structures beckon our attention, we will not be able to do justice to understanding the smallest fraction of Chaco and what it meant to the early Puebloans and other indigenous peoples who may have visited here so many years and centuries ago.

Chaco is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and deservedly so. Until the 19th century, Chaco had the largest man-made buildings in North America, and to stand here among the millions of stones that were carefully placed in order to build such structures leaves us in awe. Fortunately, this northwest corner of New Mexico is only about 360 miles from where we live, and hopefully, that will allow us to return again.

How many hands over how many years chipped away at these rocks in order to make relatively uniform sizes that could be fitted together to make these walls? Some of the structures were up to four stories tall, and it has been estimated that Chetro Ketl alone was made up of as many as 50 million hand-placed stones.

Our drive out of New Mexico takes us into Colorado to the old mining town of Silverton, this was along the way.