Chimney Rock, Colorado

Chimney Rock is the name a rock formation, a nearby Ancestral Pueblo village, and the National Monument which includes both, located near the intersection of Colorado highway 151 and U.S. highway 160.  The site is generally considered by archaeologists to be an outlier of the culture centered in Chaco Canyon, located in northern New Mexico.  Chimney Rock and some nearby related settlements would thus form the northeast corner of the Chaco Culture area.  The Chaco, in turn, is considered to be one of three "provinces" of the Ancestral Pueblo, or Anasazi culture, the latter term sometimes frowned upon by their modern descendants.

During my first visit to Chimney Rock in 2005, I saw that the area was largely forested, and thus had to rethink my previous conception of the Anasazi as being desert-dwellers.  This time I pretty much knew what to expect, but still wished to make a return visit.  I was lucky enough to arrive about 10 minutes before the start of a guided tour.  After checking in at the small visitor's center, the other visitors and myself were given the option of driving the two and a half-mile road to the upper parking lot, or riding with the guide.  I chose the latter option, gladly leaving my rented car in the lower area.

Before arriving, I took this first picture from just off state highway 151.  To the right, the taller rock formation is Chimney Rock.  The formation to the left is Companion Rock.

From the upper parking lot, a paved trail leads around the lower village.  This is the interior of the kiva in the lower village.

Some of the walls of a house in the lower village.

The area known as the lower village is still above most of the surrounding landscape.  Here's the view facing northwest.

Just above the upper parking lot is another kiva.  The interior of this one includes a hole in the side wall, used to provide air to a fire burning in the small circle in the center of the floor.  The upstanding rock (seen mostly on its shaded side) next to the circle kept air from blowing directly on the fire and putting it out.  Such features were fairly common for Chacoan kivas.

We hiked to the upper village on a trail that led uphill along the narrow ridge line, with steep drops on either side.  Fortunately, the ridge widened out around the upper village.  These are some rooms in the main house in the upper village.

The upper village also has a kiva, which includes a bench around the outer wall.  The two pairs of armrest-like structures were used to hold the wooden posts that held up the roof.

From the upper village, it was easy to take this shot of Companion Rock (L) and Chimney Rock (R).  The gap between the two, as seen from the upper village, is where the moon rises during its major standstill, which occurs about every 18 years.