Post two of three for Chaco Culture National Historical Park, which I visited on June 20-22, 2025. My first post is here.
Not surprisingly, in addition to the many Ancestral Puebloan structures, there are a large number of petroglyphs and pictoglyphs in the park. Also not surprisingly, because some of these would be about 1,000 years old, many of the petroglyphs (pecked) and pictoglyphs (painted) are hard to see.
The one at the top is the one I especially wanted to see. It is widely believed that the painting is of the precursor to the Crab Nebula, which is to say, a star that went supernova, back in 1054. So, yes, nearly 1,000 years old!
It's painted on the bottom of an overhang, and gets little or no direct sunlight, helping it survive all these years. You look straight up to see it.
I've been seeing pictures of it in astronomy books and magazines for as long as I can remember. Nice to finally see it in person.
People who study archeoastronomy (ancient astronomy) determined that the crescent moon and star-like figure are roughly of the proper orientation and separation to reflect what might have been seen by an ancient skywatcher, back on July 4, 1054, when that super-bright but temporary star would have appeared in the constellation Taurus, near a crescent moon, in the early AM hours of that date.
To get to the "Supernova pictoglyph," it's about a 7 1/2 mile roundtrip walk, along a mostly-level canyon bottom. However, erosion has cut down enough to require a couple of detours. Make sure you know where you're trying to get to, so you don't get off track after the detours.
The trail to the pictoglyph is the trail that heads to Penasco Blanco. It's about another 3/4 mile past the pictoglyphs. I did not continue to them, as I was a bit rushed. If I had more time, I would have. They sound interesting.
The trail starts from near Pueblo del Arroyo, and heads mostly west, along an old dirt road. After a half mile, you pass Kin Kletso. Three-quarters of a mile past that, is Casa Chiquita. About a half mile after that, is the signed "Petroglyph trail", which parallels the main trail, but runs along the cliff.
Interestingly, there were bike racks at Kin Kletso and Casa Chiquita. Apparently, the path here is still designated as Navajo Service Road 14, so Navajo can drive that segment, and bikes are permitted. Not sure how far you can ride your bike, but, if an 8 mile roundtrip hike to Penasco Blanco sounds too far, you might want to investigate with the NPS to see how far you can ride a bike, if you have a bike. At the very least, it's about half the distance.
Other petroglyph concentrations are above Una Vida (some pictured, above), between Pueblo Blanco and Hungo Pavi, and small panels near the campground and near the administrative buildings (all of which I also visited). There are several other areas with petroglyphs and ruins that I did not visit, which I would try to visit, were I to return. Even though Chaco Culture National Historical Park looks small on a map, it's still a lot to take in, even over two days. I could defintely use two more days, just to visit the other publicized trails and areas. Unfortunately, it's a long drive from the LA area, and most airport car rentals do not allow for off-pavement driving of their rental cars, so I'm not sure when that will be. I'd probably try for an equinox trip, for the sunrise and sunset alignments, as a counterpoint to the summer solstice trip we did, this time.
No comments:
Post a Comment