Chaco Canyon features in Harmony of the Worlds, Episode III of Carl Sagan's classic series Cosmos. Even in the best episode of the whole series, the Chaco Canyon sequence is a jewel.
Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University
of Wisconsin - Green Bay
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| Not a place you stumble onto by accident. This site was a hub on Anasazi culture but today is miles down a dirt road. |
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This butte was the location of the Sun Dagger, an arrangement of stone slabs
that allowed a narrow shaft of sunlight to cross a carved spiral at the
summer solstice. The slabs shifted (natural causes) not long after their
discovery. Chaco Canyon features in Harmony of the Worlds, Episode III of Carl Sagan's classic series Cosmos. Even in the best episode of the whole series, the Chaco Canyon sequence is a jewel. |
| Coal beds and sandstone in the canyon walls. |
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| Chaco Culture National Historic Park is a World Heritage Site. |
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| Looking northwest up the canyon. |
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| Pueblo Bonito is the largest ruin in the canyon, a vast D-shaped affair. |
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 | Chunks of canyon wall are poised to fall |
 | A big chunk of canyon wall fell about 50 years ago, damaging part of Pueblo Bonito. |
 | Ripple marks in one of the fallen boulders |
 | The scar where the slide originated. |
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 | Travelers venturing to Chaco Canyon get a few miles of paved road. |
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Even the main highway isn't densely settled, so this is a pretty ominous sign. The dirt road is well maintained, but has stretches of thick dust, loose gravel, and washboard. Plan a minimum of three hours even for the most cursory visit. I suspect the road is unimproved to keep out all but serious visitors. |
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Created 7 April 2003, Last Update 01 March 2009
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