Our welcome to Chaco Canyon. Fajada Butte (Banded Butte). Cliff dwellings on the top of the butte are closed to foot traffic. This is the only trail we have not explored. Also known as the sun dagger site. Using three stones light is reflected onto spiral petroglyphs making a dagger of light marking solstices and equinoxes. A long ramp on the southwest corner suggests the butte had considerable ceremonial importance for the Chacoan people.

Pueblo Bonito Chacoan Great house from 850 to 1250 AD.

Kin Kletso Pueblo. Occupied 1100 to 1150 AD.

Windows

Kiva in the Hungo Pavi great house. Occupied 1000 to the 1250s. It is round but I had to pan it to get it all in. Sorry about that.

We visited the grave site of Richard Wetherill (1858-1910) who devoted his life to a search for remains of the ancient peoples Navajos call the Anasazi. He discovered the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde, Kiet Siel and at Chaco Canyon he initiated the excavation of Pueblo Bonito, the largest prehistoric ruin in the United States. Check this out: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wetherill

Dan and Bill climb and squeeze themselves to the top of the Mesa on the way to pueblo alto. We received  a 2 hour good conduct pass from Mary and Carol to hike as far as we wanted. They waited in the car. It rained. They remained dry. Look close, Dan is up there encouraging Bill to scramble faster. We're on the clock.

Isn't this a great window view? Notice the depth of the wall.

Mother Nature looking pretty. Nope, I don't know them by name. Ah, courses I should have taken in collegeare many. This is one. Astronomy and Geology too.

A view of Chaco Canyon from our vantage point on the rim trail.

On the way out of the park we came upon a lady with a tire problem. Here is Good  samaritan Dan trying to get the lug nuts tightened up so the car could be pulled forward. The angle was so severe we couldn't get the bottle jack to raise the car far enough to swap tires. After 45 minutes struggling in the rain we threw in the wet dirty towel. The driver was on the phone with the car rental folks when we escaped. Okay,  back to Bloomfield we motored and made our pilgrimage to Lotta Burger for the best green chili hamburgers in NM.