Chaco Canyon is an amazing place to see. Definitely a wonderful place to Camp. However, if you get nervous about driving 40 miles on unpaved, extremely bumpy, maybe pop your tire type road, it's not for you. We didn't really understand this going into it. We probably would have done it anyway, but at least we would have known what we were in for when you turn onto a county road in New Mexico. The entrance to Chaco Canyon consists of a 25 mile dirt road. Disguised with the name County Road and then some numbers, it is not made very clear that this is a treacherous trap with lots of rivets and bumps and rocks. We did see some sheep on the road on the way in and that was pretty awesome.
Other than that, it felt like we were riding a wave runner and it took us a very very long time to get in there. We didn't really pass anyone until we came to a downhill and drove towards what looked like a touring band and another poor van driver alongside the road with a popped tire. It was definitely starting to seem like more of a Gabby and Alia trip by this point. Since Alia's phone needs to constantly be on charge and my car does not have an aux cable, they only CD that happened to me in my car was Bruce Springsteen's born in the U.S.A. So naturally driving across a dirt road in the middle of the desert on USA road trip how could we not play the boss as we drove off into the sunset?
Once we started to see the campsite, I felt as though we were a lost raft out at sea finally spotting land. We had made it. The end was in sight. And the Sun was still in the sky and the air was still in our tires.
Alia and I lucked out again in our camping adventures by showing up without a reservation and having open campsites that we could just pay for at the pay station and set up. We arrived this time in the daylight, so we were able to set up not in complete darkness. As soon as the tents were up, we raced to catch the sunset. The rocks along the little scenic drive in the park was filled with warm setting sun and new structures for us to explore. We decided on the Seven Mile Loop and ended up upon the ruins. Wandering around the remains of shelters from years ago, another gorgeous fiery sunset set in the background with lots of tiny little bunny rabbits scattering all around us.
There's also a giant butte on the way in and out of the Chaco area and we did not miss the opportunity every time we passed it to express how butte-iful it is. Yeah, we're really funny. We made our way back to the campsite after we realized we again had no service to find that pay phone lines are now a nonexistent trend of the past.
This was the first night that we were able to make a campfire. The Visitor Center was closed by the time we got there and you're not allowed to collect wood around the park, so we had to make do with what we could find in our cluttered car. Basically, we burned all of Alia's socks and underwear that she didn't want to take back on the plane with her and some random cardboard. We still cooked hot dogs on it. No, it didn't taste like feet, so that was good. We waited to put the unddies on until after we ate. There's nothing like campfire hot dogs and pickled okra. I don't care if we used laundry to cook it.
This was also the first campsite that we stayed at that had active people around us when we got there. No one was too close to us, but we were all situated in a giant Amphitheater type area in the rocks. We were also close enough, or maybe it was just quiet enough, that when I decided I wanted to do my nightly photographs of the campground and stars, I could hear just how much the people in the corner were enjoying their stay. Lots of ooos and ahhs if you know what I mean. Maybe they were just that excited about how beautiful the sky was that night.
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