Park officials warn motorists of treacherous, nearly impassable roads at Chaco

Officials at Chaco Culture National Historical Park are warning visitors to be well prepared before driving into the park because of treacherous, nearly impassable unpaved roads.

Park officials have been sounding the alarm about road conditions since early January, when San Juan County saw a series of winter storms that left behind several inches of snow. Now, that snow largely has melted, leaving the gravel roads leading into the park extremely muddy or even submerged.

Then, on Jan. 23, a new problem arose — the collapse of one of the banks of a livestock pond adjacent to a road near the park entrance, causing it to be flooded.

“We have standing water in some areas that is the width of the road,” said Nathan Hatfield, the chief of interpretation at Chaco and at Aztec Ruins National Monument. “So, that’s another significant hazard.”

Hatfield said travel to and from Chaco has been troublesome since late last summer.

“We had the monsoons in September that really did a number on the last two miles (of gravel road) before you enter the park,” he said. “It’s pretty rough.”

This month’s precipitation, and the collapsed pond, have made conditions even worse, he said.

“That’s all happening in the same area that was already in bad shape,” he said.

Hatfield said unless visitors have a four-wheel drive vehicle with high clearance, they may be better advised to visit Chaco at another time, when the roads are in better shape.

“We’re telling people on Facebook, ‘If you get stuck, we don’t really have a way to help you. And if multiple people get stuck, it could be a long time before we can get a tow truck out there,’” he said.

Hatfield said the fact that cell phone reception in the park, and on the roads leading to the park, is almost nonexistent, making the situation even worse. Motorists who did get stuck likely will face the prospect of hiking back to the park visitors center, so they should have a good pair of boots and adequate clothing, he said.

“We’re just really preaching health and safety on the Facebook page,” Hatfield said.

Hatfield said a handful of motorists have gotten stuck so far, but that has not become a widespread problem because Chaco typically only sees 10 to 20 visitors a day this time of year.

“But in the fall, in September (when park visitation spikes), we had folks getting stuck a couple of times a week,” he said.

Hatfield said County Road 7950, which runs between the park’s east side and U.S. Highway 550, is in bad shape, but the condition of other road leading to the park — N.M. Highway 57, which runs largely along a north-south trajectory between the park and Crownpoint — is even worse.

“We really encourage folks to check our Facebook page or call the visitors center for the most recent updates,” Hatfield said. “We do have folks who drive in almost every day, and they update the park staff on what the roads are like.”

Hatfield said most of the snow around the park has melted, so snow- and ice-packed roads are not really an issue the way they were a couple of weeks ago. But the melting snow has saturated the ground, making it more challenging to visit Chaco than it has been in a long time, he said.

“I’ve been with the parks for over eight years,” Hatfield said. “I would say it was 2016 or ’17 when it was close to this (in terms of conditions). I won’t say this is the worst, but it’s right up there for me in my eight years working at Aztec Ruins and Chaco.”

Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 ormeasterling@daily-times.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription: http://bit.ly/2I6TU0e.