The Chaco Taco: Is it Camping, or is it a Suburb?
Before: A tarp provides some shelter from the storm while camping near Canyon de Chelly.
After: Introducing the Truck Tent, a giant nylon condom that cinches over the back end of the truck and provides a full-sized bug- and weather-proof LIVING ROOM.
Does camping get any more decadent than this?
Well, our friends Tom and Ann have taken it to the next level with a 14-foot featherweight travel trailer that includes a refrigerator, stove, shower, gas furnace, microwave and a flat screen TV.
Both rigs made their first big trip to Chaco Canyon over Thanksgiving weekend. We left Tucson Wednesday afternoon, camping at our beloved Faywood Hot Springs as usual. After three good soaks and a chilly night in the Taco Ma, we made our way north via Emory Pass.
As far as I'm concerned, the Mimbres Valley is one of the loveliest areas anywhere in the Southwest, especially in the fall when the trees lining the Mimbres River glow like big yellow hot air balloons.
After a memorable Thanksgiving dinner in Edgewood, we packed up the dogs and headed for Chaco!
Fortunately we got an early start. Even on this chilly Thanksgiving weekend, there was intense competition for camping spaces in the park. We scored two perfect spots side-by-side at the base of a sandstone cliff.
There were Anasazi ruins about 50 feet from our campsite.
Dennis gets some tongue from Maggie on a sunset stroll to the top of the mesa.
Partying down in the Funfinder. It was plenty cozy with Tom, Ann, Dennis, me and two golden retrievers.
Dining al fresco at 24°
Then it was off to Kin Kletso and one of my all-time favorite hikes, the Pueblo Alto Trail.
This 6-mile loop trail begins with a short but steep scramble up an ancient staircase in a fissure behind Kin Kletso.
The trail runs along the rim of the mesa, affording bird's eye views of Pueblo Bonito and Chetro Ketl. Now on my fourth trip to the area, I am still dumbfounded by the grand scale of Chacoan architecture. These buildings were the castles of their time in North America, planned from the start and constructed over decades using very advanced masonry techniques.
Pueblo Alto trail passes a hand-carved stairway that was part of an ancient system including more than 400 miles of roads that connected Chaco to outlying communities.
At about the halfway point, the trail swings inland and attains the upper mesa through another keyhole. While we passed easily, Charlie was too wide to fit through the narrow opening at the base of the crevasse.
Like the Good Shepherd, Dennis slung 65-pound Charlie over his shoulders, and we were on our way.
Few hikes offer more dramatic views than the gradual ascent across the barren mesa to Pueblo Alto. There are two sets of ruins at Pueblo Alto: one from the Chacoan period, and New Alto, constructed in the early 1100s.
Why would they build in such a forbidding location, so far from water? We asked G.B. Cornucopia, an interpreter and park ranger in Chaco Canyon for more than 20 years. There was — and is to this day — a reliable spring on top of the mesa. Pueblo Alto was also situated at the intersection of several ancient Chacoan roads. With enhanced contrast, some of them are visible in the photo below.
There was just time for a quick tour of Pueblo Bonito before sunset.
Pueblo Bonito is the largest of the 12 Great Houses in Chaco Canyon, and it was the largest and tallest building in North America until the end of the 19th century. Begun about 850 AD, it took three centuries to complete. When finished, it had as many as 800 rooms, two cental courtyards, two great kivas and 37 smaller kivas.
A canyon towhee looking for handouts was our constant campmate. The ravens have also become quite brazen, pecking at tents to get to the food inside.
Farewell party in the Chaco Taco. We're looking forward to our next adventure with Tom and Ann.