Chaco awaits summer solstice

The sun sets over the Chaco Canyon in this 2007 file photo.

By Helen Davis
Cibola County Bureau

NAGEEZI — Most people living in northwestern New Mexico know about Chaco Culture National Historic Park and its huge kivas. But how often do local residents take advantage of the park’s camping, tours, lectures and trails?

With the price of gas this year limiting travel by car, Chaco Canyon is a fine destination for those looking for a break but who find New York, or even Roswell, too far to travel.

Chaco Canyon is a world-class attraction and educational center, as well as a familiar local attraction. The historic site was put on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage list of historic, educational and cultural places in 1980, said Russ Bodnar, chief of interpretation at the park. Chaco Canyon is designated a U.S. National Historic Park, as well.

Every summer the Chaco Canyon staff and the U.S. National Park Service offer ongoing programs and a special midsummer’s celebration.

The big Chaco Canyon summer event is the sun aligning with the ancient solstice marker, visible from the great kiva Casa Rinconada at sunrise for three days during the Summer Solstice.

In honor of Chaco’s history as an ancestral pueblo center and the ancient solstice marker, the park will present special events, including lectures, native dancing and a dawn viewing of the sun on the famous marker, from June 20 through June 22.

The solstice marker viewing begins on June 20 and continues for the next two days, with spectators gathering at Casa Rinconada at sunrise — 6 a.m. — each day. For these three days park gates will open at 5:30 a.m.

Park rangers and guides expect between 600 and 900 people to show up for the dances on Saturday, June 21, Bodnar said.

“You really get an opportunity to invite folks. The tribes can take part in an ongoing tradition. Visitors get a chance to see what the past might have been like,” Bodnar said.

The interpretive officer said many of the dancers who have not been to Chaco Canyon before have a chance to feel what their ancestral ceremonies may have looked and sounded like with the voices and drums reverberating off the cliffs, where sound carries and amplifies off the nearly barren walls.

He said most visitors to solstice events are respectful and reverential about the proceedings.

This year the special dance guests are Cyrus Concho and the Acoma Sky City Group Dancers who will present traditional social dances in the plaza of Pueblo Bonito all day on June 21.

Bodnar said the historic site also offers programs all summer long on more general topics. From April to October the park offers astronomy and other lectures on Tuesday, Friday and Saturdays for park visitors. Chaco Canyon has a fine telescope and small observatory that visitors may use after the lectures.

This year visitors will find camping limited because of trouble with one septic tank. Normally, the park has 45 overnight sites plus group sites, but this year difficulty with a septic tank shut down the group sites and some of the private sites, so only 35 camp sites are open, Bodnar said. Ruby Ranch five miles south of the park entrance on New Mexico Highway 57 — the dirt road off Navajo 9 — has primitive camping for those willing to pack in water and food and make their own latrines.

Bodnar said the famous dirt road is in good shape and should present no problem, unless there is heavy rains.

Motorists should slow down for cattle guards and avoid rocks and ruts.

Information: Chaco Culture NHP, Nageezi, NM 87037. Phone: 505-786-7014.
On the Web: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/
http://users.aol.com/mjhinton/chaco/
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/solstice.html