Day Nine On The Road
News You Can Use
Staff Journal
Chaco Canyon

We are coming down to the final stretch our journey. Ten days can fly past swiftly when one is engrossed, emerged, experiencing, and living the cultures of New Mexico. I am afraid that when I get back to Connecticut I may experience space deprivation after traveling this land. The drive up to Chaco Canyon was spectacular. As we climbed up to altitudes of 7000 feet we were able to take in the ever changing landscape. The colors, the mountains, the desert, the clouds, the rains, the skies, and the people bridge the physical with the spiritual. When the Ancestral Pueblo crawled out from the underworld to this place we call earth they must have noticed its beauty and stayed.

The focal point of today journey was experience the Chaco culture. As we walked around this sacred place there was so much to take in. The buildings that we left standing were made with meticulous masonry craftsmanship.  These Pueblo structures connected the people with the celestial events that take place though out the seasons. In the mid -800-1200 the Chaco peoples built pueblos that endured over1000 years. They did this by precision and skills passed on from generation to generation.

Chaco Canyon is filled with the ancient histories. Though thousands of years have past, life is evident all around. Brother Raven is flying high above the cliffs looking for an evening meal. He is cawing as he swoops between the canyons peaks. The warm wind is gently ruffling my hair, kissing my skin as it passes through. There is no sound here except for the bird singing in a distance. The grasses are dancing in the wind as a breeze softly sways each blade. The colors jump out of the cliffs as the sun’s shadow move with the setting of the sun. The reds, grays, rusts, golds and whites become brilliant as the moon rises in the sky. Brother Ant is hustling home carrying a heavy load as he descends back into the earth. Sister Jack Rabbit scurries across the path to avoid human contact.  The peace and tranquility; the silence and the warmth are home to the past and the present. Chaco Canyon is truly a sacred place for those who visit here and those who live.