The Impressive Ruins of This Isolated Southwest Canyon Were Once North America’s Largest Structures

Many states across the U.S. are enchanting in their own ways, but only one state earns the label of America’s official “Land of Enchantment.” Though New Mexico doesn’t get quite the tourism attention of its neighboring states of Texas, Colorado, and Arizona, this Southwestern gem has some of the most underrated attractions west of the Mississippi River. From natural wonders like Carlsbad Caverns to historical sites like the Taos Pueblo, and even fun novelties like a unique UFO-themed McDonald’s in the cosmically charming city of Roswell, New Mexico has something for everyone. One of the state’s lesser-known, but unmissable, treasures is tucked away in a National Park Service site about a three-hour drive north of Albuquerque. While Chaco Culture National Historical Park looks mostly like a beautiful, but undeveloped, desert canyon today, this magical landscape once held one of the largest cities in North America!

In terms of purely natural resources, Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a wonderful display of the strange, rugged beauty of New Mexico’s Colorado Plateau. The park lies within a scenic canyon setting, carved by periodic rivers that wash through the harsh New Mexican landscape. But this canyon protects one of America’s most important archeological sites. Centuries before European colonization, Chaco Canyon was home to a major urban area and some of the largest buildings in North America at the time. Today, Chaco Canyon serves as an essential preserve of the culture and history of the region’s Native American civilizations, while offering some of New Mexico’s best, scenic hikes. 

Chaco Canyon lies within the semi-arid Colorado Plateau, near the Four Corners region. The landscape features many classic shots of the American West, including desert plains, towering mesas, and deep canyon cliffs. Though the canyon looks desolate at first, its network of “arroyos” (i.e. periodic rivers that flow through natural gullies) has created an “‘island’ of biodiversity” in the desert ecosystem, according to the National Park Service. The protective walls of the canyon, combined with this richness of plant and animal life, made the region the perfect place for ancient peoples to build their cities. 

Beginning around the year 850 CE, a pre-Columbian civilization known as the Ancestral Puebloans built large, intricate structures throughout Chaco Canyon. The Ancestral Puebloans built many long-lasting architectural masterpieces across the Southwest, including the cliff dwellings at Colorado’s underrated archeological wonder of Mesa Verde National Park. But the Chaco Canyon Pueblo likely contains the largest structures ever built by an Ancestral Puebloan culture. Many of these “great houses” rose to several stories in height, and sometimes contained hundreds of rooms. At its peak around 1050 CE, the Chacoan Culture Pueblo was likely the political, cultural, and economic center of the entire region. 

Today, Chaco Culture National Historical Park lets you explore the preserved ruins of this once-thriving city center, with close access to many of its most impressive buildings. The park’s Pueblo Bonito is the epicenter of the entire archeological complex. Following its completion around 1150 CE, Pueblo Bonito may have been the largest building in North America! Other preserved Chaco Culture structures like Chetro Ketl, Hungo Pavi, and Una Vida showcase the architectural genius of the Ancestral Puebloans, while the park’s Petroglyph Trail preserves their unique artwork still etched into the rocks.