Arriving at Peñasco Blanco after the beautiful five mile hike we are ready to start exploring the ruins. They are quite extensive and seem to have a square defensive formation protected by impressive walls from all directions. We envision this as the fortress that protected the entrance to the Chaco canyon as we can see the central area from here and all the different access points to the canyon. But maybe it is just our imagination and it was just a normal satellite Chaco town, who knows?
We follow the use trail to the other side of the site where the ruins are more impressive and spend some time just exploring them. It is the site of our dreams with little restrictions, no people and lots of nooks and crannies to explore and understand.
We work our way slowly towards the most impressive part of the ruins, the free standing part of the wall with an impressive keyhole entrance. We explore it from both sides and take lots of photos while admiring it before moving on.
We then explore the rest of the ruins with the usual array of kiwas, including a double walled one and a few other nice free standing walls with some impressive masonry.
And then it is time to return to the parking lot we see in the distance but of course we still have to walk to it. And first it is time to descend back to the canyon floor using the same trail that we ascended on.
We continue to enjoy the fall colors that are even more pronounced as the sunset approaches. We really like the contrast, it is quite beautiful.
We cross the dry creekbed and then we hurry past the petroglyphs…hurry but we still stop a bit to enjoy them. We then reach Casa Chiquita which looks beautiful in the setting sun light, it is a great time to visit as there is no one around.
No one human of course, as the animals and birds are out in force with white-tailed antelope squirrels being the highlight as they give us quite a scare when they make an alarm sound right next to us.
Arriving at the parking lot we enjoy both Kin Kletso and the cliffs during the Golden Hour, it is quite special and we really enjoy the excellent views. Then it is time to lighten our backpack as we still want to explore a couple more ruins before total darkness.
