Aztec Ruins Monument

While they are not really Aztec, we decided to visit one of the destinations of Chaco's original roads to the north, even though we could not drive it directly. We did leave early (90 minutes to drive the 18 miles of ugly) and we headed up about 60 miles to the town of Aztec where they have excavated and restored portions of a large settlement. These are well planned public buildings of many connected rooms surrounding a central plaza. The West Ruin resembled the great houses built at Chaco and elsewhere in the Southwest. The three story building had over 500 rooms and many kivas - circular ceremonial chambers - including a great kiva in the plaza that has been restored. We were allowed into these structures and could follow the warren of rooms on the bottom floor and enter the main kiva. Since we were fairly early in the morning there were only a few people and it was a very moving experience to sit in the kiva and feel the spiritual strength of the place. We are heading up to Navajo Lake for the night (showers to remove yesterday's dust and grime) and then make a decision about our next destination. We know we need to start heading north ... or at least in that direction.