An Insider's Guide to the Four Corners

The Four Corners

A thousand years ago, this region was the center of an incredibly complex and influential civilization that flourished over several centuries throughout the entire Southwest. The Ancestral Puebloans, along with other tribal groups, occupied this land and inhabited sites such as Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon and Canyon de Chelly. Today, the region is home to the descendants of these tribes, many of whom have a strong connection to these important cultural sites.

From the dry desert ecosystem at Chaco Canyon to the pinyon-juniper woodlands at Mesa Verde, the geographic isolation of these parks offers visitors the ability to get off the beaten path to find solitude away from big crowds.

The Four Corners Regional Guide covers:

• Chaco Culture National Historical Park
• Mesa Verde National Park
• Canyon de Chelly National Monument

Chaco Culture National Historical Park

Located approximately 150 miles north of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that preserves more than 15 Chacoan “great houses” that were the hubs of Puebloan civilization between 850 A.D. and 1150 A.D. The scale and sophistication of these communities and economies were unparalleled in the region. The structures completed by the Puebloans were some of the largest buildings constructed in North America until the 19th century. For generations, this complex culture brought people together from areas as distant as southern Mexico to buy and trade items, share knowledge, and celebrate important milestones and religious events.

Chaco Culture National Historical Park was first established as a national monument in 1907 to preserve and tell the story of Chaco Canyon, which continues to be an important cultural center for tribal communities today. The park protects many of these impressive structures and is one of the largest collections of ancestral sites north of Mexico.

Where to Begin

The park’s visitor center provides interpretive exhibits and ranger-led walks through the pueblos. Visit the National Park Service website for necessary fees, passes and potential closings. You can use your America the Beautiful pass or consider visiting on one of the fee-free days. Keep in mind that cell service can be very limited, and temperatures can get quite hot in the peak of summer, even at higher elevations.

Highlights

While the footprint of Chaco Culture National Historical Park itself is small, the larger connected cultural landscape is vast. For many Native peoples, the boundaries of the park do not encompass all that is important spiritually and culturally.

• Pueblo Bonito: This is the largest of the Chacoan great houses and the most important site in the park. It once contained about 800 rooms and 37 ceremonial chambers, or kivas, and is believed to have housed more than a thousand people at its peak.
• Chetro Ketl: This second-largest Chacoan great house contained about 500 rooms and two great kivas.
• Casa Rinconada: This site includes the largest kiva at Chaco Culture and is located 6 miles from the visitor center on the 9-mile Canyon Loop Drive. The trail through Casa Rinconada and the nearby villages is half a mile long, round-trip, and is a great introduction to the diversity of architecture that existed at the center of Chacoan culture.
• Pueblo Alto Loop: This trail takes you up an old staircase carved into the rock and onto a mesa north of the great houses, offering fantastic views of the canyon below.
• Penasca Blanco Ruins Trail: This is the longest trail in the canyon and takes you to numerous petroglyph sites.

Tips for Visiting

Plan Ahead

You won’t want to miss the unforgettable ranger-led night sky program at this International Dark Sky Park. You’ll have the opportunity to look through high-powered telescopes and discover how astronomy played a significant role in the architecture and construction of Chaco.

Don’t forget to bring binoculars to spot several petroglyphs and pictographs located around pueblos, including one pictograph thought to portray a supernova that was first observed in 1054 AD.

Stay Overnight

There is no national park lodging in Chaco Canyon. To get the most out of your experience in the park, plan your visit in advance to reserve a camping site and sleep under some of the best dark skies in the American southwest. If you really want an unforgettable overnight experience, visit the park on a solstice, equinox or full moon. The park usually has specific programming to celebrate these celestial events. If camping is not your thing, the nearest lodging is over 60 miles away (an hour and a half by car) in Bloomfield, New Mexico, although you will find more options a little farther up the road in the town of Farmington, New Mexico.

Weather

Visit this park in the spring or fall for the best weather and to avoid the summer heat. Have plenty of water, sunscreen and a hat to stay protected from the desert sun. If you plan on being in the park at night, bring warm clothes, as it gets colder than you might think, even when it is hot during the day.

Travel Responsibly

Always follow Leave No Trace practices when you visit the parks by packing out everything you pack in and leaving everything you find. Please consider that the landscape extends beyond the park boundary, so treat all cultural sites within and outside of the park with respect. This includes artifacts, sites, structures, landscapes and any objects of importance to a culture or community. Don’t touch the dwellings, as they are fragile.

Beyond the Boundary

• Aztec Ruins: This smaller — often overlooked — national park unit protects a 900-year-old Puebloan great house that was just one of a much larger community of sites inhabited by Ancestral Puebloans after they migrated north from Chaco Canyon. Pick up a self-guided tour packet in the visitor center and check out the museum before or after your tour. The must-see feature of this park is the reconstructed great kiva, a semi-subterranean structure that is over 40 feet in diameter. It is the oldest and largest reconstructed building of its kind — you won’t find anything like this at Chaco Canyon or Mesa Verde.
• Salmon Ruins: This excavated pueblo offers another opportunity to see Chacoan architecture. Don’t miss the fantastic museum, located in Bloomfield!
• Chimney Rock National Monument: With more than 100 Puebloan archaeological sites, this monument managed by the Forest Service is just on the other side of the Colorado border and is spiritually significant to two dozen modern-day tribes. The site contains a natural, seasonal calendar that marked the equinox for the Ancestral Puebloans.
• De-Na-Zin (pronounced Deh-nah-zin): Also called the Bisti Badlands Wilderness Area, this lesser-visited site northwest of Chaco takes its name from the Navajo words for “cranes” and is testimony to the strange rock formations that characterize the landscape of this designated wilderness area.
  

Mesa Verde National Park

Located in southwestern Colorado, Mesa Verde National Park was established in 1906. It was among the first places in the world to be designated a World Heritage Cultural Site after UNESCO created the list in 1978. The iconic cliff dwellings that gain the most attention at Mesa Verde only make up a tiny portion of a much larger and diverse cultural landscape that extends throughout the region and consists of nearly 5,000 archeological sites, including some 600 cliff dwellings. Today, there are 26 indigenous tribes associated with the lands and resources protected at Mesa Verde.

The archeological record of human habitation of this scenic area spans at least 1,300 years, beginning around AD 1 and reaching its peak between 1100 A.D. and 1200 A.D. Mesa Verde became a cultural hub following a mass migration from sites like Chaco Canyon around 1100 A.D. Before this time, the people living here resided primarily on the mesa tops. When the population increased, residents began moving into great masonry pueblos built within deep alcoves in the sheer-walled canyons. Today, visitors can hike into a few of these cliff dwellings in the park.

Where to Begin

You’ll need at least two days to fully experience the park. For entrance and fee information, visit the National Park Service website.

Stop at the Far View Visitor Center when you arrive. Then tour the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum, one of the oldest museums in the National Park System, with an informative chronology of Ancestral Puebloan culture that is worth the visit.

Keep in mind that cell service can be very limited, and temperatures can get quite hot in the peak of summer, even at higher elevations.

Highlights

The two main sections of Mesa Verde include Chapin Mesa (containing Cliff Palace, Square Tree House, Balcony House and other structures) and Wetherill Mesa (containing Long House, Step House and Mug House).

• Cliff Palace: Cliff Palace is the largest cliff pueblo in North America, with 23 kivas and 217 rooms that once housed around 250 people. Tickets are required to visit.
• Balcony House: Balcony House was a mid-sized village of 38 rooms and two kivas and probably housed up to 30 people. Tickets are required to visit. Note that visitors must climb one 32-foot ladder and a few shorter ladders and crawl through a 12-foot-long tunnel to access the dwelling.
• Long House: This is the second-largest cliff dwelling in the park and is located on Wetherill Mesa. Tickets are required to visit.
• Spruce Tree House: Due to continued safety concerns relating to rock falls, the park’s third- largest cliff dwelling remains closed for the foreseeable future. Overlooks near the museum offer superb views of the cliff dwelling.
• Overlooks: If you don’t have a lot of time or just want a taste of what Mesa Verde has to offer, stop at the many overlooks along the three main driving loops in the park. Drive slowly and you’ll likely spot mule deer along the way.
• Point Lookout Trail: Many people overlook this trail and head straight to the cliff dwellings, but this 2.2-mile, somewhat strenuous hike takes you to the highest point in Mesa Verde, offering great views of the Montezuma and Mancos Valleys beyond the park.
• Petroglyph Point Trail: This adventurous 2.4-mile loop trail provides excellent views of Spruce and Navajo Canyons and takes you past a large petroglyph panel.
• Journey through time on either the Badger House Community Trail (2.25 miles, gravel and paved) or the Far View Sites Complex Trail (less than a mile, unpaved) to explore some of the pit houses and other dwellings on the mesa top.

Tips for Visiting

Plan Ahead

Before you arrive, make sure to register online for a ranger-guided tour of Cliff Palace or Balcony House. If you can, take the sunrise or twilight tour and schedule a guided tour to one of the backcountry cliff dwelling sites, too. Keep in mind that some of the backcountry tours can be strenuous, so make sure you pick an option that matches your needs and abilities.

Stay Overnight

There is one hotel located in the park: Far View Lodge, which can book up quickly during the peak season, so plan ahead. Alternately, book a site at the beautiful Morefield Campground near the entrance of the park and enjoy free evening campfire programs led by the Park Service.

Weather

Visit this park in the spring or fall for the best weather and to avoid the summer heat. Have plenty of water, sunscreen and a hat to stay protected from the desert sun. Bring warm clothes, as it gets colder than you might think in the desert at night.

Travel Responsibly

Always follow Leave No Trace practices when you visit the parks by packing out everything you pack in and leaving everything you find. Please consider that the landscape extends beyond the park boundary, so treat all cultural sites within and outside of the park with respect. This includes artifacts, sites, structures, landscapes and any objects of importance to a culture or community. Don’t touch the dwellings, as they are fragile.

Beyond the Boundary

• Canyons of the Ancients National Monument: This monument contains the highest known density of archaeological sites in the United States. Don’t miss the visitor center and museum, where you can learn about the Ancestral Puebloan and other Native American cultures in the Four Corners region. Here, you can discover two 12th-century archaeological sites, the Escalante and Dominguez Pueblos, that were once home to the Ancestral Puebloan peoples.
• Hovenweep National Monument: This site in southeast Utah shows evidence of Ancestral Puebloan inhabitants and cultures as far back as 1200 A.D. to 1300 A.D. The Puebloans constructed a series of intricate multistory towers overlooking the canyons and the arid desert landscape, demonstrating a close connection between civilizations at nearby sites such as Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde. Hovenweep is also home to some of the best remaining examples of the skillful masonry of this era. The most prominent example is Hovenweep Castle, which features a solar calendar, marking the beginning of each solstice. Take the Square Tower Loop Trail, and stay overnight to experience the stars at this remote International Dark Sky Park.
• Ute Mountain Tribal Park: Take a guided tour led by a Ute tribal member of this undeveloped Ancestral Puebloan cultural site and explore rock art panels, cliff dwellings and surface sites such as pithouses and pueblos and cliff dwellings. Your tour will be on unpaved trails and involve ladders, so prepare accordingly.

Canyon de Chelly National Monument

One of the Southwest’s most fascinating national monuments, Canyon de Chelly (pronounced "deh SHAY,” derived from the Navajo word, Tseyi, meaning “among the canyons” or “among the rocks”) lies in the heart of the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona. With its spectacular, sheer-walled canyons and numerous Ancestral Puebloan dwellings nestled at the base of towering cliffs or perched in shallow caves, this national monument offers breathtaking views like that of a smaller Grand Canyon and has a rich cultural history that spans more than 4,000 years.

The monument was established in 1931 and unlike nearly all other National Park System units, the U.S. government does not own the land within the boundaries of the park. The management of the park is carried out jointly by the Navajo Nation and the Park Service. Members of the Navajo community continue to live in the canyon, raising crops, tending flocks of sheep and cultivating peach orchards.

Canyon de Chelly was the site where the Navajo made their last stand against Kit Carson, a U.S. Army colonel who was leading a command against the Navajo people in 1864. The confrontation ended in the largest Native American surrender in history and led to the Long Walk of the Navajo, where nearly 8,000 people were taken captive and forced to relocate nearly 400 miles to the Bosque Redondo reservation near Ft. Sumner in modern-day New Mexico. Eventually, the 1868 Treaty of Bosque Redondo allowed the Navajo people to return to their homeland.

Where to Begin

There is no entry fee required to visit the park. Start your visit at the Welcome Center. Keep in mind that the Navajo Nation observes Mountain Daylight Savings, whereas the rest of the state of Arizona does not. Therefore, from March through November, the time will be the same as Colorado, Utah and New Mexico.

Highlights

Canyon de Chelly is made up of two scenic rim drives with a variety of outlooks, one self-guided hike into the canyon to see the White House Ruin, the Welcome Center and campground. Visiting anywhere else in the park requires a backcountry permit and Navajo guide.

• White House Trail: This 2-mile roundtrip self-guided hike is the only public trail in the park and takes you from the White House Overlook on the canyon rim down to a Puebloan cliff dwelling named White House Ruin, dating to around 1100 A.D., that once housed over 60 rooms. Its name comes from a section of white-plastered pueblo wall in the upper part of the dwelling.
• South Rim Drive: Some of the outstanding overlooks on this 22-mile drive include Junction Overlook, White House Overlook and Spider Rock Overlook. Don’t miss Spider Rock, an exceptional slender sandstone spire that rises 750 feet from the canyon floor and is sacred to the Navajo.
• North Rim Drive: Check out the Ledge Ruin Overlook, Antelope House Overlook (named for its colorful Navajo paintings of antelope from the 1800s) and Mummy Cave Overlook (a cave occupied from 300 A.D. to the late 1200s that contains some of the largest and most spectacular cliff dwellings in the monument).

Tips for Visiting

Plan Ahead

Access into the canyon is very limited, which is why a visit to Canyon de Chelly National Monument would not be complete without a canyon tour led by a Navajo guide. Reserve your spot with one of the National Park Service registered tour providers in advance to guarantee a spot. Tours are led by vehicle, horseback or on foot. This unique experience will give you the opportunity to hear firsthand stories about life in the canyon and the significance of this inimitable place to the Navajo people.

Don’t forget a high-resolution camera for photos of the canyon vistas, featured best in the morning light. Make sure to bring a hat and plenty of water as temperatures get high in the summer months.

Stay Overnight

The Thunderbird Lodge in the gateway community of Chinle has rooms available year-round, with additional lodging nearby. The lodge is Navajo owned and operated.

The Cottonwood Campground is managed by the Navajo Parks and Recreation Department. Reserve your spot at the campground far in advance, especially during the peak season of April through October.

Weather

Visit this park in the spring or fall for the best weather and to avoid the summer heat. Have plenty of water, sunscreen and a hat to stay protected from the desert sun. Bring warm clothes, as it gets colder than you might think in the desert at night.

Travel Responsibly

Always follow Leave No Trace practices when you visit the parks. Canyon de Chelly is still home to several families. Treat all cultural sites within and outside of the park with respect. Don’t touch the dwellings, as they are fragile.

Beyond the Boundary

• Hubble Trading Post National Historic Site: Located about 40 miles south of Canyon de Chelly, this is the oldest operating trading post on the Navajo Nation and is a great place to shop for rugs, decorative pottery, arts and crafts.
• Navajo National Monument: Less than 100 miles (just over a 1.5-hour drive) northwest of Canyon de Chelly, this monument features some well-preserved Puebloan cliff dwellings.
• Window Rock Tribal Park & Veteran’s Memorial: Known for its natural sandstone arch, the site commemorates the Navajo people who have served in the U.S. military, including the Navajo Code Talkers who helped the Allies win WWII. This memorial is located on the border of Arizona and New Mexico, between Canyon de Chelly and Albuquerque. Entry is free.
• Monument Valley Tribal Park: This stunning tribal park straddles the border of Arizona and Utah. The park, frequently a filming location for Western movies, is accessed by the looping, 17-mile Valley Drive through towering sandstone buttes.