There are many solstice markers in Petrified Forest National Park that scientists from all over the world gather at on the first day of summer to study and document.  One is located at Puerco Pueblo, site of the prehistoric Puebloan ruins.  A petroglyph in the form of a spiral, easily viewed from an overlook, is pecked into the rock.  Amidst several petroglyphs that have been chiseled here this one alone interacts with the sun.  On the day of the summer solstice a beam of sunlight makes it’s way through a chasm in the rock directly to the center of the symbol.  Researchers believe this was used by the ancient ones as a solar calendar.    

Puerco Pueblo at mile marker 11 is a partially excavated Puebloan village occupied between AD 1250 and 1380.  A 1/3 mile paved trail explores this large site of 100-125 rooms built around a rectangular plaza near the Puerco River.  In this usage of the Spanish word puerco means dirty or muddy.  Within the plaza are 3 kivas or underground ceremonial chambers.  These ancient people, possibly related to the Hopi and Zuni were the Southwest’s first farmers.  They grew corn, beans and squash supplementing their diet with wild plants and small game including rabbits and prairie dogs.   Due to the large amount of chipped stone artifacts found here (mostly petrified wood) they probably manufactured tools and we do know from uncovering items such as imported pottery that they actively traded with other groups of ancestral people.  A series of severe droughts beginning in A.D. 1215  lasting until A.D. 1299 contributed to the decline in population and eventual abandonment of the site by A.D. 1400.  The culture of these ancient people lives on in the works of writers and artists of today.  Many present day Hopi and Zuni people practice their religion and hold ceremonies in kivas.

Petrified Forest National Park is the only National Park that Route 66, the first interstate highway system in the United States, offering 2,200 miles of open road from Chicago to Los Angeles ending at the beach in Santa Monica California crossed through.  6 miles into the park the line of the roadbed and the telephone poles in front of you mark the path of the famous “Main Street of America.”  Of those days gone by, a 1932 Studebaker commemorates this landmark.

Visit our Canyon de Chelly Photo Gallery 

Canyon de Chelly (pronounced d’Shay) located 105 miles northeast of our home for the summer as volunteers for the National Park Service at Petrified Forest National Park was the perfect place for a day trip.  After we visited Hubbell Trading Post we continued on to explore Canyon de Chelly.  When you arrive at the entrance to Canyon de Chelly you may sign up for a tour with the Navajo guides who will bring you out to the canyon floor as a group in open back trucks or you may drive the South and the North Rims.  We chose the driving tour and started on the south rim which is sixteen miles with seven overlooks all offering amazing views.  We spent about two hours stopping at points of interest such as the Sliding House Overlook (Sliding House Ruins may be viewed on the narrow ledge across the canyon) TIP: bring along a pair of binoculars,  Spider Rock (at 800 feet a relatively famous landmark.)  The Navajo people believe that Spider Woman lives atop Spider Rock.  To the right of Spider Rock is Face Rock.  According to Navajo oral history Face Rock reports the names of misbehaving children to Spider Woman and carries the children to the top of Spider Rock.  The only trail that you may hike into the canyon without a Navajo guide is the White House Trail found on the South Rim Drive.  You should allow two hours for this moderately strenuous hike two and a half miles roundtrip from the canyon rim dropping 550 feet on a series of switchbacks to the canyon floor and the cliff dwellings.  After completing the South Rim Drive back track to the visitor center and head out on the North Rim Drive traversing the rim of Canyon del Muerto.  Allow two hours for this fifteen mile drive with it’s four overlooks.  Spanish for “canyon of the dead” Canyon del Muerto was named when remains of mummies were discovered on an archeological expedition in the 1880′s.  This drive includes a stop at the Mummy Cave Overlook, one of the largest and most beautiful ruins within Canyon del Muerto.  Canyon de Chelly does have a very nice visitor center hosting exhibits about the history of the canyons and a bookstore.  Year-round camping is free at Cottonwood Campground on a first-come first-served basis.  Restrooms are available however there are no showers and no RV hookups.  RV’s longer than 40 feet cannot be accommodated.   The entrance to Canyon de Chelly National Monument is free.