All posts by mjh

Mark Justice Hinton lives in New Mexico and loves the Four Corners region, as well as the Rocky Mountains. Write him at chaco@mjhinton.com.
Chaco, Q&A

How Much Time Does Chaco Take?

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I really appreciate your take on Chaco. It’s been one of my “life goals” to visit it for years, and I plan on doing so in early June. I want to have enough time to appreciate it, but I’m traveling with my two teenagers, who are great in the outdoors but will tolerate only so much “down time.” In your opinion, what’s the ideal number of days to take to visit Chaco and whatever outliers are significant to appreciating it? – K

Someone in a hurry could visit each of the ruins along the loop road in Chaco in a few hours.

With an overnight stay in the campground, you could also plan on one or more of the “backcountry” ruins that involve some hiking (in the desert with no shade). Of those backcountry hikes, Wijiji near the campground may be the easiest (no climbing at all; perhaps a couple of miles each way).

With at least two nights in the campground, you might walk all the backcountry trails.

The longest backcountry hike is to Pueblo Peñasco. It is a magnificent ruin with famous pictographs on a spur trail, but the bulk of that hike is most likely to bore or exhaust some folks. It’s a long hot sandy hike.

If you were only going to do one backcountry hike, perhaps it should be north to Pueblo Alto; that involves scrambling up a rocky crack to get to the mesa, which in turn immediately gives you great views of several ruins in the canyon.

As for outliers beyond the canyon, Pueblo Pintado is the easiest to reach on your way in or out via one of the south roads. Some may see it as “more of the same,” but it helps us appreciate that these communities covered a lot of territory.

I have pictures on my outliers pages of some of the other outliers that are within a few hours of Chaco, but each is harder to find. It’s hard to know how much is enough for someone else.

Back to the original question, I think at least two nights at the campground give you lots of options.

Feel free to write again anytime. Let me know how the trip turns out. mjh

Q&A

From Chaco to Cortez, CO via Blanding, UT

Hi,
I am sure you get far too many of these to answer but if you have the time please reply.
We may be able to visit the West and I am thinking about (my wife has a class to attend in Norman, OK) going from Norman to Grants, Grants to Farmington with a stop at Chaco (yes it will be a short stop), Farmington to Blanding, UT going by the Four Corners, not planning a stay at Blanding, Blanding to Cortez, CO. Want to see some of the ruins near there and spend maybe two nights. Then back to Farmington and a two day drive back to Norman to see anything we may have blown by on the way.
I will have two small children and very little money. My daughter wants to see desert and she was more interested in ruins than zoos and such. Farmington and Cortez also have frisbee golf courses for a break from the educational and cultural.
This will be in June so I am sure it will be hot and crowded and I don’t like crowds. I will also be avoiding cities the best I can.
So what do you think of the plan and is there anything I really shouldn’t miss in the area?
Thank you,
B

Along with Chaco, you’ll probably want to visit Aztec National Monument, in Aztec, New Mexico, near Farmington; it has a restored Great Kiva.

In Farmington, there is also Salmon Ruins.

Out of Cortez, Mesa Verde is an obvious choice, but I highly recommend Hovenweep National Monument to the West. It probably won’t be crowded. It makes a great contrast to all the others because the ruins are much smaller, like single family dwellings, but just as interesting and in amazing condition.

North of Cortez a bit, is the Anasazi Heritage Museum (interesting as a stop on the way to something else, more than as a destination, in my opinion). Farther north, Lowery Pueblo has a very large kiva and is out in the middle of nowhere.

Blanding has Edge of the Cedars State Park which has a great collection of pots as well as interesting ruins.

Roughly southeast of Cortez is Chimney Rock National Monument, which is magnificent, though not really on the way to or from any place else. You’ll get to see a tremendous range of terrain from high desert at Chaco to forest near Chimney Rock.

Write back anytime. Let me know how the trip turns out. mjh

www.mjhinton.com/wild/
www.mjhinton.com/chaco/
www.mjhinton.com/outliers/

Q&A

From Chaco to Moab, Utah

We are planning a trip to Chaco in Sept. We will be in Abg for 2 nites then want to spend 2 days/nites in the Chaco region, then head up to Moab. Any suggestions? – S

If you’re in the Chaco campground for a night, you may want to plan on one of the backcountry hikes, especially Pueblo Alto.

Heading out of Chaco towards Moab, you’ll pass near Aztec, New Mexico, and probably should stop to see Aztec National Monument. Its shady green riverside location is quite a contrast to Chaco. Its ruins have unique features and there is a restored great kiva.

North of Aztec/Farmington/Bloomfield, there are at least two very different choices. Ruins fans should head through Cortez, west to Hovenweep. The ruins there are smaller but in great shape and very interesting.

Then find your way over to Blanding, Utah, for Edge of the Cedars State Park. Between there and Moab are lots of side trips to canyons galore.

If we ignore that route and you aren’t after more ruins, then I’d go to Durango and north through Silverton and Ouray. That is amazing alpine country. Soak up some cool before Moab.

Write again anytime. Let me know how the trip turns out. mjh

www.mjhinton.com/wild/
www.mjhinton.com/chaco/
www.mjhinton.com/outliers/

Anasazi

Two Books Exploring Anasazi

Salt Lake Tribune – Trailing the Anasazi By Brett Prettyman, The Salt Lake Tribune

During a trip to Grand Gulch in southeastern Utah in 1987, Roberts was able to again experience the wonder of the ancient people whom he calls Anasazi. (Roberts explains in detail in the book why he uses that name instead of “Ancestral Puebloans,” which many archaeologists now use). The inspiration eventually led to two books focusing on the Anasazi, including the recently released Sandstone Spine: Seeking the Anasazi on the First Traverse of the Comb Ridge. …

His first book on the Anasazi in 1997, In Search of the Old Ones: Exploring the Anasazi World of the Southwest, only caused Roberts to crave more knowledge on the subject. …

Perhaps no book captures that notion of exploring the Anasazi on their own turf more than his new one, which recounts an 18-day journey in 2004 in a wild and remote area on the Utah and Arizona border.

wildlife

Rare Falcon Spotted On Otero Mesa

ABQjournal: Rare Falcon Spotted On Otero Mesa
The Associated Press

SANTA FE— An endangered northern aplomado falcon has been spotted on Otero Mesa in the southern part of the state, according to an environmental group trying to stop plans for oil and gas drilling in the area.
Forest Guardians reported last week that a young falcon was seen about two miles from where a pair of falcons was spotted in August. The young bird was photographed by an environmental consultant who is conducting falcon surveys.
The sighting was the eighth in as many months, and environmentalists are calling on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to hold off on a reintroduction plan that would remove habitat protection for wild falcons in New Mexico, Arizona and Texas.
Environmental groups have said the falcon is being threatened by oil and gas drilling in its habitat— including Otero Mesa, site of a challenged Bureau of Land Management plan for drilling.

wildlife

Plan to Capture Jaguar Is Opposed

ABQjournal: Plan to Capture Jaguar Is Opposed
The Associated Press

LORDBURG— A team of government scientists has voted to capture one of a handful of jaguars known to live in the United States, drawing protests from environmental groups.
The scientists want use a radio collar to follow the jaguar’s movements, along river corridors or through mountain ranges, to help authorities figure out which areas most need protection in the name of the species.
The decision, voted on here last week, needs to be approved by game agencies in Arizona and New Mexico, meaning it could take until the end of the year before one is collared, Arizona Game and Fish officials said.
However, three environmental groups— the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and the Sky Island Alliance— contend that the stress of capture is risky for the animal.
In 2002 and 2003, two jaguars died after being captured in Sonora, Mexico, for radio-collaring. That’s two out of the three research-based jaguar captures ever made in Sonora.

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Uncategorized

Wilderness Protection Good for Economy

ABQjournal: Study: Wilderness Protection Good for Economy By Tania Soussan, Of the Journal

DOWN TO EARTH: Permanently protecting the Organ Mountains and other special lands in Doña Ana County is likely to give the region an economic boost, according to a new study from the Tucson-based nonprofit Sonoran Institute.
Environmentalists, local elected leaders and Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., have been touting the benefits of designating thousands of acres of wilderness.
The institute’s study found Western counties that are similar to Doña Ana and have wilderness outperform those that don’t in employment and wages.
In addition, entrepreneurs who create high-wage jobs tend to pick areas with a high quality of life, including protected lands and outdoor recreation, the study says.

Uncategorized

PUEBLOAN RUINS OF THE SOUTHWEST – Book Review

‘Ruins’ brings Puebloan culture to life By Dave Gagon, Deseret Morning News

book cover“PUEBLOAN RUINS OF THE SOUTHWEST,” Arthur H. Rohn and William M. Ferguson, University of New Mexico Press, $34.95, softcover, 320 pages with drawings, maps and 327 color photographs

The most arresting aspect of “Puebloan Ruins of the Southwest,” by the University of New Mexico Press, is the drawings, charts, maps and photographs employed by anthropologists Arthur H. Rohn and William M. Ferguson in their quest to paint a complete picture of the Puebloan culture.

Rohn and Ferguson cover southwestern Colorado’s Northern San Juan River region in which the popular tourist destination Mesa Verde lies, as well as the Kayenta Region, which is home to Canyon de Chelly and the Grand Canyon ruins. The civilization from the Pithouse period to modern-day villages is laid out before the reader in an easy to read textbook fashion.

Chapter one covers the ancient peoples, the chronology of their building, physical appearance and disease, food and clothing, water management, and much, much more. The remaining chapters consider the various regions and their remaining ruins.

The book offers a section on Chaco Canyon culture, including the architecture and ceremonial significance of Pueblo Bonito. The book also covers the Zuni and Hopi ancestry of the Little Colorado River region and the ruins in the Northern Rio Grande Valley.

While other books have compiled similar material, it is Rohn and Ferguson’s mix of historical commentary and myriad added graphic elements that make it unique.

One of the more fascinating subjects in the book is the kiva. Every Puebloan site has them, and the illustrations, photographs (many of them aerial) and explanations help readers’ picture and understand the importance of these ceremonial structures.

The sections on government and society, spiritual concepts and rituals, and celestial observations are enlightening while not being heavy-handed or too scholarly, which is, again, a tribute to Rohn and Ferguson.

“Puebloan Ruins of the Southwest” is the type of book that families will want to leave sitting on the coffee table; even if perused for only a minute, interesting information will be quickly garnered.

Uncategorized

5 Wolves To Be Released in Gila Area

ABQJOURNAL: 5 Wolves To Be Released in Gila Area

Five endangered Mexican gray wolves will be released in the Gila National Forest over the next few months.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began releasing wolves into the wild on the Arizona-New Mexico border in 1998 to re-establish the species in part of its historic range.

A male and a pregnant female are to be turned loose on the eastern side of the Blue Range Recovery Area in late April, just prior to the female giving birth. Program officials said that would increase the likelihood that the pair will remain in the area.

The site was chosen because the owners of the closest private land and the grazing permit-holder said the release was acceptable. The area also is a considerable distance from the San Carlos Reservation. The wolves were removed from the reservation last year over boundary issues.

Two females and one male will be released in June in one of four approved sites in the Gila Wilderness. The exact site will be determined after other wolf packs in the area have established dens, so the distance between the existing packs and the new wolves can be maximized.

The female wolves were captured in the Gila National Forest in 2005 as pups when their pack was removed from the area because of livestock killings. The male was captured outside its boundary in 2005.

The reintroduction program allows Mexican gray wolves to be released in New Mexico only if they previously were released in Arizona and have experience in the wild. …

As of the end of 2005, there were an estimated 35 to 49 wolves in Arizona and New Mexico.

Canyon de Chelly

Horseback Riding in the Canyon De Chelly

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Riding in the Canyon De Chelly By Elzy Kolb

Horseback camping in the Canyon de Chelly National Monument on the Navajo reservation in northeastern Arizona offers a real change of pace. Once you’re out on the trail, there’s no electricity, running water, or cell-phone service. There are also no clocks or schedules, unless you bring your own.

What the canyon does have is more than 100 miles of riding trails through glorious red-rock canyons full of Anasazi ruins and petroglyphs, or rock carvings and inscriptions. In a wet year, the canyon’s streams create swimming holes perfect for a refreshing splash, and the desert is abloom with purple tamarisk bushes, yellow and orange prickly-pear cactus flowers and white datura, the blossoms Georgia O’Keeffe often painted.

Sightseeing on horseback provides a unique perspective — a timeless sense of viewing the land the way our ancestors may have seen it. In addition, horses are capable of reaching pristine areas inaccessible by car. You travel far more slowly than you would on wheels, enabling relaxed and quiet contemplation of nature’s beauty. Sitting tall in the saddle, you have a higher vantage point than in a vehicle or on foot, and you also have the added advantage of covering distances in far less time than you would hiking.

wildlife

Northern Jaguar Project

Northern Jaguar Project

In the rugged Sierra Madre foothill mountains in the state of Sonora, Mexico, lies one of the largest areas of unfragmented, largely unprotected, wildlife habitats remaining in North America. The area contains some 3000 square miles of near-pristine wildlife habitat, marred only by the effects of range cattle grazing.

This dramatically beautiful region has unprecedented significance for the conservation of many threatened and endangered species.

The topography of rough mountains, deep canyons, and sheer cliffs, along with the vegetation mix of tropical thornscrub, tropical deciduous forest, and oak woodlands, provides a rich and regionally unique habitat for biodiversity of native flora and fauna. Rare wildlife species include:

* The northernmost viable breeding population of jaguars
* Military macaws in their northernmost nesting sites
* The northernmost breeding population of neotropical river otters
* The southernmost nesting site for bald eagles
* Ocelots, desert tortoises, Gila monsters, lilac-crowned parrots, eared trogons, and other rare and important species.

Protection of the area is crucial for preservation of viable habitat for all of the species present, but particularly for protection of the last remaining breeding populations of endangered jaguars in northern Mexico. Protection is essential for creation of a wildlife corridor between Mexico and the United States. The corridor will create connectivity and allow recolonization of endangered species in the United States, contributing to the maintenance of genetic diversity.

We have a brief window of opportunity to preserve this area of precious biodiversity and we must act now.

Ah, Wilderness! » Jaguar in New Mexico

For the first time in a decade, a jaguar has been sighted in the state.

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daytrips

State Route 12 in Utah

Read the whole article for a nice summary of things to see and do in this area of southeastern Utah. mjh

Utah in the raw
Drive State Route 12 to see West’s famed untamed beauty
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer

ESCALANTE, UTAH – State Route 12 in Utah is an awesome and very scenic road.

It twists. It turns. It curves. It climbs. It drops through the geological playground that dominates Garfield and Wayne counties on the Colorado Plateau in southern Utah.

The road offers new vistas guaranteed to take your breath away at every turn in Utah’s red-rock, high-country desert and beyond.

It runs past slickrock canyons, cliffs, Ponderosa pine and aspen forests, alpine lakes, national parks, state parks, a national monument, a national recreation area and small farming communities.

Route 12 is the main artery through one of the most rugged and isolated areas of the West. It was one of the last explored frontiers in the lower 48 states.

The route offers camping, hiking, trout fishing, mountain biking, hunting, cross-country skiing, horseback riding and riding all-terrain vehicles.

There are elk herds, strange geological formations, petrified forests and Anasazi Indians ruins/museum on the semicircular route, which ranges from 4,000 to 9,200 feet in elevation.

State Route 12 is a national Scenic Byway, one of 125 in the United States. It is also an All-American Highway, one of only 20 so designated by the Federal Highway Administration. … [read it all]

Q&A

Which are the Four Corners states?

Map of the Four Corners StatesQ: Which are the Four Corners states?

Clockwise from the southeast, they are New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. Where these 4 states touch is, surely coincidentally, also not far from the center of the Anasazi world and Aztlan. The region is spectacularly beautiful. mjh

Q: Where is the Four Corners Monument?

Where the 4 states meet. Seriously, it is off of US 160 on part of the Navajo Reservation (Dinetah).

Many people delight in straddling the divisions between the states. I don’t recommend it as your destination in the area, but if you happen to pass it on the way to more interesting places, you may enjoy it (I didn’t). Close by are Hovenweep and Navajo National Monument, among many others. mjh

Four Corners National Monument