pueblo alto

 the only back-country trail i did at chaco was the pueblo alto trail, which requred shimmying up through a crevice to the top of the mesa --- great rock and a great view of bonito ---

chaco building

it is thought that a climatic change to more-arid conditions precipitated abandonment of the great houses at chaco canyon in the thirteenth century --- walking through the buildings more or less in solitude was a great experience, except for an exceptionally noisy family group that cut short my initial tour of una vida --- pueblo bonito was stunning, and i almost never use that word without ironic intent --- 

mainstreaming the weird

nothing, at least nothing in atlanner can rival the spectacle of dragon con, especially the parade --- this year the parade route was stretched from north avenue to and around peachtree center, terminating at the marquis --- sidewalks were jammed with people the entire route

chaco culture national historical park

26 august:  i've been wanting to see chaco for a long time,  and it did not fail to meet my expectations --- part of the larger chaco culture world heritage listing --- one of the more inaccessible nps units, with routes into the park varying from "very rough to impassable," including several miles of washboard road out of a total of 21 miles of dirt road into the park from the east ---

 a whole lot of open range around chaco and all over new mexico ---

aztec ruins national monument

27 august:  aztec ruins is a 19th century misnomer, since it's a classic chacoan great house and part of the chaco culture world heritage listing --- excavated by earl morris with funding by american museum of natural history 1916-1922, declared a national monument in 1923

400 rooms, 12 kivas, parts of it originally three and four stories high, 

impressive original wooden ceilings and even remnants of woven mats used at door openings

morris directed reconstruction of the great kiva by the national park service in 1934, four years before there was an archaeological reconstruction of the earth lodge at ocmulgee --- both remain wonderful structures

petroglyph national monument

25 august:  a great place, on the volcanic basalt escarpment on the west side of albuquerque --- i did not see all of the estimated 24,000 petroglyphs strewn across several thousand acres nor the extinct volcanoes on the west side of the monument