Kin Nizhoni and Chaco Culture starting at Milan

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Kin Nizhoni

   Navajo speakers call it Kin Nizhoni, which means beautiful house, and the name has outlived the walls. This is one of the Chacoan outliers, a village of stone-and-mud buildings put up about a thousand years ago by Ancestral Puebloan people who were linked to the great centre at Chaco Canyon, some distance to the north. The outliers sit scattered across the high desert of northwestern New Mexico, often connected to Chaco by straight prehistoric roads, and each tells a piece of the story of a society that traded turquoise, pottery and macaw feathers across a very large area.

   Read the complete Kin Nizhoni write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Kin Nizhoni is where the day begins. Next is Kin Ya'a.

2. 2. Kin Ya'a

   A broken stone tower rising out of the sagebrush is what you see first at Kin Ya'a, and it is one of the strangest sights in the Southwest. This was a Chacoan great house, built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries by the same Ancestral Puebloan culture that raised the monumental buildings of Chaco Canyon, some forty kilometres to the north. What makes Kin Ya'a special is its tower kiva, a round ceremonial room built up four storeys high, much of which still stands. Its name is Navajo and is usually translated as tall house. It is one of the outlying sites included in the World Heritage listing of Chaco Culture, linked to the canyon by what archaeologists believe was a formal road.

   Read the complete Kin Ya'a write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Kin Ya'a comes up about 64 km into the recorded legs. Next is Chaco Culture.

3. 3. Chaco Culture

   Getting to Chaco Canyon is part of the point. The last stretch of road into this remote corner of north-western New Mexico is unpaved, rutted and washboarded, and after rain it turns to slick mud that can make it impassable for any kind of vehicle. Take that seriously: on a road bike it is tough, and on a big touring machine it can be miserable. But the reward is extraordinary. Between roughly 850 and 1150, the Ancestral Puebloan people built monumental great houses here, multi-storey stone buildings with hundreds of rooms, aligned with the sun, moon and cardinal directions, linked by straight roads across the desert. Chaco Culture National Historical Park was listed by UNESCO in 1987.

   Read the complete Chaco Culture write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 134 km into the recorded legs you reach Chaco Culture. Next is back through Kin Ya'a.

4. 4. back through Kin Ya'a

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Kin Ya'a write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Kin Ya'a, late in the day. Next is Kin Nizhoni.

5. 5. Kin Nizhoni

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Kin Nizhoni write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Kin Nizhoni. That is the ride.