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Thanksgiving in the Land of Enchantment

Defensive Sites of Dinétah, Black Friday in Chaco Canyon II & Images of Dinétah
Thanksgiving Weekend | Thursday – Sunday, November 25-28, 2021

It feels like I’ve already spent a lot of time in the Land of Enchantment this year with visits to El Malpais National Monument, Mount Taylor and Wheeler Peak– so this seemed like the perfect year to skip our annual Thanksgiving visit to Cedar Mesa and head back to northwestern New Mexico instead. We actually did the same thing five years ago, so this wouldn’t be our first time spending Thanksgiving in La Tierra Del Encanto. We had originally planned to head to New Mexico last year for Thanksgiving, but the COVID restrictions at the time made us change our plans, so we were really looking forward to finally getting back this year! We left home early on Thursday morning and drove over Red Mountain Pass through the San Juan Mountains to Bloomfield, where we would be spending a couple of nights while we explored Dinétah and Chaco Culture National Historical Park for the next couple of days.

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The Chaco Phenomenon of the San Juan Basin

Tour of the Ancients: Chimney Rock National Monument, Twin Angels Pueblo & Lowry Pueblo
Thursday & Friday, May 20-21, 2021

After leaving El Malpais National Monument in the early afternoon on Thursday, we then drove north across the San Juan Basin on our way to Durango. There was a storm system moving into the area this evening and it was supposed to rain overnight and throughout the day on Friday, so we thought it would be best to get a hotel room in town tonight. On our way we made a short detour to visit the Twin Angels Pueblo, which is a Chacoan Great House located at the edge of Kutz Canyon, not far from Angel Peak. We were planning to visit Chimney Rock National Monument on Friday and had already visited the Dittert Site in the El Malpais National Conservation Area earlier in the week, so I thought it would be nice to visit yet another Chaco Outlier this week.

Aztec Ruins & Angel Peak

Saturday – Monday, July 28-30, 2018

This weekend Diane and I were heading down to Albuquerque to attend a concert on Sunday evening, so we decided to split the drive up into two days and spend a night in Bloomfield, New Mexico. This way we could visit some nearby ruins and maybe catch a nice sunset without spending all day sitting in the car. We left home early on Saturday morning and took the scenic route over Lizard Head Pass and through Rico and Dolores, arriving in Aztec in the early afternoon. It had been a while since I visited Aztec Ruins National Monument on one of my trips to Chaco Canyon and Diane had never been there before, so we started out with an easy hike through this small Monument that’s located right in the middle of town.

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Crow Canyon Petroglyphs

Sunday, November 27, 2016

After spending the last four days based out of Farmington, New Mexico for the long Thanksgiving Weekend, it was finally time to head back home and get ready to go back to work on Monday morning. But before we left the area, we would spend a few hours hiking in Crow Canyon (Cañon Cuervo) and exploring the extraordinary petroglyphs found there. According to the BLM, Crow Canyon contains the most extensive and well-known collection of 16th – 18th century Navajo petroglyphs in the southwest.

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Black Friday in Chaco Canyon

Black Friday | Friday, November 25, 2016

After a great day exploring the Bisti Badlands, Diane and I would be spending Black Friday checking out the massive ruins at the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. It’s been over 5 years since my last visit to Chaco Canyon and I was looking forward to returning. Diane had never been here before and she had a great time seeing all of the impressive ruins for the very first time. Besides visiting all of the easy-to-access ruins along the loop road, we would also hike the Pueblo Alto Trail which is one of the few trails I had not hiked in the park yet. We spent all day in the park and had a really great time!

Tag: san juan basin

Thanksgiving in the Land of Enchantment

The Chaco Phenomenon of the San Juan Basin

Aztec Ruins & Angel Peak

Crow Canyon Petroglyphs

Black Friday in Chaco Canyon