Kin Nizhoni and Kin Ya'a

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 Casamero.

2. 2. Casamero

   Casamero is a small sandstone pueblo on the edge of a valley below the red cliffs of north-western New Mexico, near Prewitt and Thoreau, and it was built about a thousand years ago by people connected to the great Chaco culture. It is one of the Chacoan outliers, communities that shared the architecture, pottery and probably the beliefs of the great houses of Chaco Canyon, more than eighty kilometres to the north, and that were connected to them by a network of straight roads. The walls of Casamero, made of carefully laid stone, still stand to a good height, with the outlines of rooms and a great kiva, a large round ceremonial chamber, nearby. It is part of the Chaco Culture World Heritage site.

   Read the complete Casamero write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Casamero comes up about 71 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kin Ya'a.

3. 3. 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

   about 111 km into the recorded legs you reach Kin Ya'a. Next is back through Casamero.

4. 4. back through Casamero

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Casamero write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Casamero, 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.