Colorado Parkin’ Day 5 – Aztec Ruins National Monument & Chimney Rock National Monument

May 24, 2023

Time to get on the road again! Today would be the start of what I would call my two “down days” of the trip, where I did not have a particularly busy itinerary. It was time to leave Mesa Verde National Park and briefly visit New Mexico before heading into the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado.

Continuing my Ancestral Puebloan road trip, I decided south to Aztec Ruins National Monument in New Mexico. This is not a new place to me, as I had visited in elementary school and also in 2012. I have to admit, I was mostly on a Junior Ranger and passport stamp mission, especially since in 2023 it is the 100th anniversary of this national monument and there was a special stamp. This national monument protects the ancestral Pueblo “Great House” that began as a satellite city of Chaco, and later functioned as the social, economic, and political center of the region after Chaco declined. (It has nothing to do with the Aztecs.) It is also an UNESCO World Heritage site. After an easy morning drive of a little less than ninety minutes, I grabbed some gas and fresh ice for the cooler and got to Aztec Ruins National Monument a few minutes after they opened at 9am.

A fellow national park enthusiast arrived at the same time as me, and we chatted briefly about travel plans and picked out our junior ranger pamphlets to complete. Aztec Ruins is a bit different in that they have different themed pamphlets for junior rangers to complete. I chose to the water themed one, and took to exploring the visitor center, which is housed in the home of archeologist Earl Morris. The visitor center has a lot of great artifacts and there is also a theatre that shows a film. Unfortunately during this time several school buses unloaded unruly teenagers, and did impact my visit as I attempted to dodge the hoards.

A half-mile trail leads visitors around and through the Great House and the reconstructed Great Kiva. There is an audio tour you can follow along with on the app, or there are trail guides you can purchase. I did not spend a great deal of time since this was a repeat visit, but I always get a kick out of walking my tall self through the small openings.

I found a shaded picnic table to finish my junior ranger stuff on before heading back inside for my badges. Overall, great, quick morning visit, though the rowdy field trips did really disrupt the experience a bit.

Time to head back north to Colorado! I only had one more stop for the day planned, and my final place on my great ancestral Pueblo road trip – Chimney Rock National Monument. Declared a national monument in 2012, the US Forest Service manages the monument that is nestled in the San Juan National Forest between Durango and Pagosa Springs.

Chimney Rock preserves one of the largest Puebloan communities found in Colorado, which is an outlier of the Chacoan culture that was centered in New Mexico. What is unique about Chimney Rock is the Major Lunar Standstill (MLS). The MLS is an astronomical event that occurs every 18.6 years. It is visible from Chimney Rock National Monument where the moon aligns between the two sandstone spires, Chimney Rock and Companion Rock. The rising is visible for a few days throughout the year over the course of three years. (There is no public viewing access during the 2023-2025 MLS event.)

I stopped at the nearly constructed visitor center, showing my America the Beautiful pass to the rangers before proceeding inside to the exhibits (which are fantastic, especially the ones about various religions and their practices around astronomical events) and gift shop.

Getting my passport stamping duties out of the way and finding a patch to buy, I made my way up the winding gravel road to the Upper Mesa. Here there is about a mile long hike I’d take up the steep hill to the Great House (you cannot go to Chimney Rock and Companion Rock) and through the Mesa Top Village (which is a paved walking loop).

I made a quick sandwich picnic lunch once I made my way back down to the Lower Mesa (there are some picnic tables!). My day was wrapped up really, and now all I had left was driving to find a campsite in the San Juan National Forest for the night.

I had used iOverlander to try to find some campsites, and found promising dispersed camping off of Forest Road 667 past East Fork Campground. A couple miles up the road I found a great spot where I could tuck into the trees for shade right next to the East Fork San Juan River.

The best part? Hammock time!

I wasn’t lying when I said this was a low key day for me. I arrived in the afternoon, so after setting up my tent, I set up the hammock and took to relaxing and getting caught up on a library book that I had discovered was due. I have never had an overdue library book in my life, and I was riddled with guilt so I wanted to make myself finish it so I could get it returned after Memorial Day weekend (thankfully my local library recently went fine free).

After a great pasta meal and a bit more evening reading, I let the roaring river lull me to sleep about 8pm.

Stats:

• 185 miles driven
• 7,994 steps / 4.8 miles walked
• 1 NPS unit, 1 USFS unit
  • Aztec Ruins National Monument – Free
  • Chimney Rock National Monument – $20**
  • **I have an annual America the Beautiful Pass, so no entry fees had to be paid
• Fuel stops
  • Aztec, NM ($3.79/gallon)
• Campsite
  • Dispersed camping in the San Juan National Forest for free!