Why this ride
On the way it passes Casamero, Kin Ya'a, Kin Bineola and Pierre's site. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kin Nizhoni and Pierre's site
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 424 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 9 h 21
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
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. 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. 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 106 km into the recorded legs you reach Kin Ya'a. Next is Kin Bineola.
4. Kin Bineola
Over a thousand years ago, the people of Chaco Canyon built great houses of finely laid sandstone, multi-storey buildings with hundreds of rooms and ceremonial kivas, and connected them with roads that ran straight across the desert. Kin Bineola is one of the outlying great houses, some distance south-west of the canyon, on the Navajo Nation in north-western New Mexico. Its walls still stand in places to several storeys, with the characteristic Chacoan masonry of small stones packed between larger ones. It is one piece of the World Heritage property for the Chaco Culture, together with the canyon and other outliers.
Read the complete Kin Bineola write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kin Bineola, about halfway. Next is Pierre's site.
5. Pierre's site
North of Chaco Canyon, the Ancestral Puebloans built something that still puzzles archaeologists: a road. Not a trail, but a wide, carefully engineered path, about nine metres wide in places, running almost dead straight north across the desert for some fifty kilometres. It is known as the Great North Road, and Pierre's site sits right on it. This is a cluster of small structures built on and around a prominent sandstone outcrop, including what may have been signalling stations or shrines on top of the hill, and from its height you can see far across the San Juan Basin. Like Kin Ya'a to the south, it is protected as one of the Chaco outliers on the World Heritage list.
Read the complete Pierre's site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Pierre's site sits at 166 km, about halfway. Next is back through Kin Bineola.
6. back through Kin Bineola
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kin Bineola write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Kin Bineola comes up about 275 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Kin Ya'a.
7. 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
about 317 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Kin Ya'a. Next is back through Casamero.
8. 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.
9. 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
The route ends here after 424 km.
Leg by leg
Kin Nizhoni to Casamero
Kin Nizhoni → Casamero is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Casamero to Kin Ya'a
Casamero → Kin Ya'a is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kin Ya'a to Kin Bineola
Kin Ya'a → Kin Bineola is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kin Bineola to Pierre's site
Kin Bineola → Pierre's site is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pierre's site to back through Kin Bineola
Pierre's site → back through Kin Bineola is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kin Bineola to back through Kin Ya'a
back through Kin Bineola → back through Kin Ya'a is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kin Ya'a to back through Casamero
back through Kin Ya'a → back through Casamero is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Casamero to Kin Nizhoni
back through Casamero → Kin Nizhoni is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Kin Nizhoni and Chaco Culture · 525 km
- Casamero and Pierre's site · 482 km
- Casamero and Chaco Culture · 583 km