Penasco Blanco

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 8.2 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 6071 - 6252 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 3 hrs. 45 mins.
Trailhead: Pueblo del Arroyo
Fee: $8/vehicle
Attractions: Great Houses, supernova pictograph

The Penasco Blanco trail is located in the Chaco Culture National Historic Park in northwestern New Mexico. The trail begins at the Pueblo del Arroyo parking area and heads west up Chaco Wash to the base of West Mesa where it ascends a little over 100 feet to the top of the mesa and the location of the Penasco Blanco Great House. Along the way it passes closely by Kin Kletso, Casa Chiquita, the Petroglyph Trail (a short side trail) and the Supernova Pictograph that depicts the supernova seen in the year 1054. This is the longest backcountry trail in Chaco Canyon but with very little elevation change it isn't a hard hike for most people.

Chimney Rock Pueblo Trail

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 0.8 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 7375 - 7643 feet
Cellphone: 0-1 bars
Time: 2 hrs. 30 mins.
Trailhead: Chimney Rock upper parking lot
Fee: $12/adult, $5/child 5-16
Attractions: Chacoan great house

View Chimney Rock Pueblo Trail in a larger map

The Pueblo Trail is located in the Chimney Rock National Monument in southwestern Colorado between the towns of Durango and Pagosa Springs. The trail climbs a narrow ridge below the pinnacle peak of Chimney Rock mountain. Along the way the trail passes some excavated and some unexcavated ruins until near the summit it comes to the remains of an actual Chacoan great house. Visitors will be charmed by the extensive ruin high atop the forested ridge with the prominence of Chimney Rock towering nearby.

Chimney Rock Great Kiva

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 0.4 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 7380 - 7430 feet
Cellphone: 0-1 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: Chimney Rock upper parking lot
Fee: $12/adult, $5/child 5-16
Attractions: Great kiva, pithouses

View Chimney Rock Great Kiva in a larger map

The Great Kiva trail is in the Chimney Rock National Monument in southwestern Colorado between Durango and Pagosa Springs. Chimney Rock became a National Monument in 2012. Currently the Monument is managed by the National Forest Service and is open only seasonally from May 15 through September 30. During the off season visitors can still access the area the same as they would any other National Forest but they will find the lower gate closed restricting access to hiking and horseback only.

Bluff Great House

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 0.2 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 4383 - 4403 feet
Cellphone: 3-5 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: Bluff Great House
Fee: none
Attractions: Chacoan great house

The Bluff Great House is an important archaeological site where a Chacoan great house once stood on a hilltop overlooking the present town of Bluff, Utah. The structure was built around 1100 AD and inhabited for several hundred years before it was abandoned. Built similar to other great houses of the Chacoan civilization this site had several rows of rooms, one of which was two stories tall, 3 interior kivas and several exterior great kivas and broad straight roads that connected it to other sites in the area like the Edge of the Cedars Great House in Blanding, Utah.

Casa Rinconada and Small Villages

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 0.6 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 6133 - 6162 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: Casa Rinconada
Fee: $8/vehicle
Attractions: Great kiva, villages

Casa Rinconada is located in the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico. The name Casa Rinconada comes from Spanish for "cornered house" or "house where the canyons meet". The Park Service has an online document 'Chaco Canyon Place Names' where you can look for more information on the topic. In contrast to the great houses of Chaco Canyon the Casa Rinconada site is an example of an outlying community with a great kiva and several small villages.