Chaco Culture National Historical Park
Located between Albuquerque and Farmington in Northwestern New Mexico, this site is a United States National Historical Park that hosts a concentration of pueblos. Chaco Culture National Historical Park is situated in a remote Chaco Wash canyon cut. It contains the most comprehensive collection of ancient ruins and preserves one of the most significant pre-Columbian historical and cultural areas in the United States.
This UNESCO World Heritage Site is located in the sparsely populated and arid Four Corners region, the Chaco Cultural sites are fragile, and they are considered sacred ancestral homelands by the Pueblo and Hopi, who maintain oral accounts of their cultural and historical migration from Chaco and their solid spiritual relationship to the land. Although park preservation efforts can conflict with religious and native beliefs, tribal representatives work closely with the National Park Service to share their rich knowledge and respect for the Chacoan cultural heritage.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park is on one designated New Mexico Scenic Byways: the Trails of the Ancient Byways. Today, the significant buildings of the ancestral Pueblo locals still testify to the engineering and organizational abilities not seen anywhere else in America’s Southwest. For a deeper understanding, contact, and appreciation of the canyon that was people’s central between 850 and 1250 A.D., visit and explore this park through hiking and biking trails, evening campfire talks, guided tours, and night sky programs. Chaco Culture National Historical Park can only be accessed by a driving vehicle through dirt roads.