Aztec Ruins in Winter

The trail at Aztec Ruins National Monument is cleared for winter visiting of this very large ruins site in northwest New Mexico. Aztec Ruins is thought to have been influenced by both Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde before being abandoned around 1300 AD.

One of the striking features of Aztec Ruins is the green band of stones along the first part of the 700 yard trail. The masonry styles are of interest in these sites as there are distinct differences from different regions and different time periods. The sandstone used here was carried by hand from quarries several miles away. There are other shorter segments of green bands near the end of the trail.

The thick stone walls and the snow bring to mind the business of keeping warm in the winter. Stone isn’t a good insulation material and thicker walls would be useful for preserving heat. The thick walls also would support the upper levels of the structure. The question might be which was more important, having upper stories or having more insulation? The below ground kivas would also provide some earth contact shelter from the harsh winters. The kivas are designed with ventilation shafts and a roof opening to allow smoke to escape but the extensive room blocks at most sites are not.

I haven’t seen the concept of thermal mass mentioned at any of the ruins sites in the Four Corners region. In arid climates, the building material will absorb solar energy during the day and release the stored heat during the cool evenings. The effect is to dampen the temperature swings and make the internal space more comfortable. Adobe houses take advantage of thermal mass. The earth packed Hogans of the Navajo would also. The Pit Houses of the ancestors of Aztec Ruins take advantage of both thermal mass and earth contact. The alcove sites at Mesa Verde are mostly south facing to catch more of the winter sun. At Aztec Ruins the entire site is south facing, the open plaza faces the south and the back wall faces the north.

There is also a question of fuel for these sites also. The main trees that grow in the area are Pinon Pines and Utah Junipers. In the better soil areas sage brush grows. Interpretive information from around the region suggests that the Pinon Pines wouldn’t be cut down as they provide a nutritious and high calorie nut. The sagebrush cleared from farming fields would be a good candidate for fuel as it burns hot. There are Cottonwood trees nearby along the Animus River. The interpretive information says that Cottonwood would be burned in summer as it provided a bright light but not much heat.

I noticed two grinding stones along the sidewalk near the visitor center. The visitor center has a small museum with a few artifacts and displays and a video room. One interesting pottery piece has a spiked surface that might be modeled after the seed pod of the highly toxic, hallucinogenic Datura plant. My visit at Aztec Ruins was for about 2:00 hours on a 37 F degree late January day. The trail was clear with a few icy patches. There was about 1 foot of snow in the uncleared areas.

Monument Valley vs. Valley of the Gods

Monument Valley along the Utah and Arizona border and inside the Navajo Nation draws visitors from around the world. The massive carved sandstone buttes with the overlay of Navajo culture help visitors connect to the land like few other places. Not far from Monument Valley, on the north side of the San Juan River is the similar but less noticed Valley of the Gods.

Most visitors visit Monument Valley on the 17 mile Self Guiding Trail. Along the route are 11 numbered scenic stops. The best known of the stops are the two Mittens, among the most iconic rock formations in the west. The towering formations are described as being eroded De Chelly sandstone, capped with the harder Shinarump formation. The De Chelly is also visible at the spectacular Canyon De Chelly Monument near Chinle in the center of the Navajo Reservation. Among my favorite formations along the trail is the Totem Pole and the Yei bi cheis.

If you approach Monument Valley along Highway 163 west of Bluff, Utah you will pass by the less known and lightly visited Valley of the Gods. This BLM area also has a 17 mile self guiding trail and the many formations have local names. The Valley of the Gods formations are described as being carved from Cedar Mesa Sandstone, but I think this is equivalent to the De Chelly sandstone. Near the Valley of the Gods is the formation called Lime Ridge, important in Navajo beliefs. A trapezoidal formation that resembles the traditional Hogan dwellings holds the trapped children who were disobedient to the Sun Bearer and are being punished. When the children did not repent, the Hogan was turned to solid rock. It occurs to me that using the landscape to symbolically represent traditional stories is similar to rock art. Modern visitors often seek to find hidden petroglyphs and pictographs, but the entire landscape can be viewed as rock art also.

Besides the Monument Valley Self Guiding Trail, visitors can take guided tours into Mystery Valley and the Back Roads of Monument Valley. On these tours, some of the many Ancestral Pueblo ruins sites and rock art sites can be visited, along with several natural stone arches. The harsh dry nature of the environment makes it hard to believe that people could live here, but there are several rock alcoves that sheltered small structures. The back roads also pass by the springs that provided water for these agricultural residents.

There aren’t any tours in the Valley of the Gods, The short brochure reminds visitors not to disturb any archeology sites, but there isn’t any information about where they might be. On my own visit I didn’t stray from the road, but there may be a good hike up Lime Canyon here. The Cedar Mesa area just to the north is rich with ruins sites in the deep canyons and on the canyon rims. There may not be much water available in the Valley of the Gods, but there was a small spring in the vicinity of the Bed and Breakfast near the west end of the road.

Simon Canyon Trail

Simon Canyon is a side canyon along the San Juan River just below the Navajo Dam in northwest New Mexico. The trail head is at the end of 3 mile County Road 4280, off of New Mexico Highway 173 about 18 miles east of the town of Aztec. The Simon Canyon Natural Area is a 3900 acre BLM area adjacent to the Navajo Lake State Park.

The Simon Canyon Trail begins at the same point as the San Juan River Trail, which travels east along the clear cold tail water below Navajo Dam. The early part of the trail is a service road along the east rim to a gas well, with the River Trail splitting off to the right. Past the gas well the foot trail continues along the ledge above the cottonwood trees and riparian habitat of the creek bottom. The habitat along the trail is Pinon Pines and Utah Junipers with scattered shrubs like sagebrush, Mormon Tea, and Prickly Pear Cactus.

About 0.8 miles along the trail is a small ruins site that is associated with the Gobernador era of the Navajos, from 1700 to 1775. There are several similar sites in the region of Navajo Lake, with this one being the northern most. This one is thought to have been vulnerable to Ute raids, leading to the abandonment of the area. In the Gobernador era, it looks like Navajos were building village style structures, whereas they now live in more dispersed camps. The later Navajo structures that we see now emphasize the Hogans that used Juniper logs and were packed with soil for insulation.

The doorway for this small structure appears to be on the north side. Most current Navajo structures emphasize an eastern entrance to face the morning sun. There is an interpretive sign at the site that indicates that the roof is still mostly intact, but it would be difficult to climb up and view it. I turned around after viewing the ruin for a hike of about 1:00 hour. It looked like a hiker could continue further up the canyon shelf or along the creek bottom.

San Juan River Trail

The San Juan River Trail is a 2.5 mile round trip along the north side of the San Juan River below Navajo Dam in northwest New Mexico. The trail head is at the end of County Road 4280, north off of New Mexico Highway 173, 18 miles east of the town of Aztec. The hike to the Simon Canyon Ruins starts at the same point.

The trail starts along a service road that heads up the east rim of Simon Canyon. The San Juan River Trail branches off to the right, heading up river. On the day I hiked, I saw a sign post at the trail junction, but not a sign. The tail waters flowing below Navajo Dam are clear and cold and make this area a very good trout fishing area. On a cool but sunny late November day, I saw several fly fishermen standing thigh deep and casting for trout. One of the landmarks along the trail is called ET Rock. Further on is Lunker Alley. This area doesn’t allow motorized boats and I saw a few rubber rafts with paddles maneuvering in Lunker Alley.

The sandstone cliffs along the trail are part of the San Jose formation, deposited 50 million years ago. The San Jose is a relatively recent layer compared to what is mostly visible in the Four Corners area. The youngest rocks in view at the top of Mesa Verde are 70 million years old, and the Entrada Sandstones at Arches National Park are 180 million years old. The canyon sides are covered with Pinon Pines and Utah Junipers with patches of sagebrush. Close to the river banks are cottonwoods and tamarisks. There are a few benches and tables along the trail and several places to fish from the bank.

The trail seems to end sooner than it needs to. My hike took 1:20 hours for the 2.5 mile round trip on a 44 degree sunny day in late November. There is a similar Simon Point Trail along the south side of the San Juan between the fishing access points.

The area above and below Navajo Dam are mostly part of Navajo Lake State Park with many campsites, day use areas and boat launch facilities. Navajo Lake is 15,000 acres and is the second largest lake in New Mexico. Navajo Dam is 3800 feet long, 400 feet high, and was constructed between 1958 and 1962. The longest arm is 25 miles long and the elevation is 6085 feet. There is a short hiking loop at the Pine Campground from the campground to the lake.

Gallo Alcove Ruins

The Gallo Alcove Ruins are located in the campground at Chaco Canyon National Monument in northwest New Mexico. Chaco is known for the very large Great Houses, but it also has an example of the smaller alcove type structures that are often found in the Canyons of the Ancients and the Cedar Mesa area of southeast Utah.

These two side by side sites are probably not noticed by visitors not staying in the campground, though they are visible along the road on the way in. There isn’t a trail to follow except to make your way across the campground.

These small sites were occupied at the same time that the Great Houses were in use and might be typical of how the average members of the farming community lived. I noticed at least two more small ruins along the road leading to the Visitor Center, but no attention is called to these sites.

In the vicinity of the small ruins and the Gallo campground, there are several petroglyph panels. The campground panels are mostly examples of ones that have been damaged by visitors. There are some interpretive signs that display how the panels are supposed to appear compared to how they actually appear. The Gallo campground also has a 1.5 mile trail that doesn’t appear on the park map. It appears to lead to a lookout point above the east part of Chaco Canyon.

South Mesa Trail at Chaco Canyon

The South Mesa Trail is a 4.1 mile loop to the mesa top Tsin Kletzin ruins site in Chaco Canyon in northwest New Mexico. The trail head is the same as the Casa Rinconda Loop Trail and a hiker will hike at least half of this loop trail on the way to the start of the South Mesa.

After passing by the large Great Kiva site of Casa Rinconda and the small villages nearby the trail climbs 450 feet to the mesa top. There are great views of the canyon floor with the nearby Great Houses clearly visible. The mesa top site of New Alto on the north side of Chaco stands out and you can imagine that the two sites could signal to each other and to other distant sites.

After reaching the mesa top a ruins site appears on the horizon and seemed to be further away than it appeared. The Tsin Kletzin site is D shaped and has about 70 rooms and dates from about 1112 AD. At this site there are tall walls on the curvy part of the D that faces the south and short walls to the north. At the canyon floor sites where the open plaza faces the south, the tall walls were to the north against the canyon wall. The masonry at the back wall appears to be more same sized blocks rather than the style using alternating large and small block bands.

One of the large kivas is easy to view and here a banding of large and small is visible. The landscape surrounding Chaco Canyon is very visible from this mesa top position. The Chuska and Lukachukai Mountains are visible to the west. This was the area where much of the wooden beams used at Chaco would have come from. The trees mostly available in those mountains are the tall straight Ponderosa Pines.

Another distant formation that is easily visible is Huerfano Mesa to the northeast. This mesa has three buttes that stand out and is along Highway 550. Huerfano is thought to be one of the signaling sites that the Chaco people used. Huerfano Mesa is also one of the sacred inner mountains of the Navajo. The Hero Twins of Navajo Mythology were born there. Changing Woman was the mother of the Hero Twins and she lived in the first Hogan there. It is the “lungs” of Navajo country. On the day I hiked I couldn’t see the LaPlata Mountains or Mesa Verde but I did see the spike of Shiprock, all to the north.

The return leg of the loop gives some good views of the south gap, a travel route out of Chaco Canyon. As the trail returns toward Casa Rinconda several of the other Great Houses come into view. There aren’t any Chaco features pointed out with signs on this trail as the Pueblo Alto Trail does. It took me 2:15 hours to walk the 4.1 miles on a 55 F degree blue sky late October day. I carried 2 liters of water.

Chaco Canyon Petroglyph Trail

The Petroglyph Trail at Chaco Canyon in northwest New Mexico runs for 0.25 miles along the base of the canyon wall between the large Pueblo Bonito and Chetro Ketl Great House sites.

There is a printed trail guide with 12 stops describing the features along the trail. I started at the Pueblo Bonito end of the trail. The Pueblo Bonito site is the largest and most famous of the Chaco Canyon sites. Most of the images on the trail are faint and it helps to have binoculars to see the ones placed high on the canyon walls.

Most of the attention at Chaco Canyon is directed toward the very large structures, but there were many small unexcavated structures here, where most of the residents lived. Along the trail there are carved holes in the sandstone where wood beams were supported. Grooves in the sandstone are frequently seen and are thought to be places where stone tools were sharpened.

The first stops along the trail have some historic inscriptions from explorers and early European residents. There is also a discussion of the techniques and tools with pecking, abrading, incising, and drilling all combined to form images. A bird image is pointed out as a good example, though it is difficult to see.

There is one small site with some wall fragments still in place. Petroglyph panels are often associated with building sites. The trail guide mentions that many of the Chaco petroglyphs include spirals and open-armed and open-legged stick figures. These images often face south or east. There is no accurate ways to place a date on rock images but the age of the buildings may be a clue.

Chetro Ketl and Pueblo Bonita are large sites that are very close together and one can imagine that there was a lot of foot traffic between the two sites along this canyon wall. There are other petroglyphs to see on the Una Vida Trail near the Visitor Center and the Penasco Blanco Trail. The Wijiji Trail has a pictograph panel. I spent about 40 minutes on this segment of trail between the two famous Great Houses.