fajada butte

It is the first thing that your eye is attracted to when you enter the park. It beckons you to explore it. Listen to it, explore it.

Whether at sunrise, sunset, at noon, or under a full moon, Fajada Butte is strategically located to welcome all visitors to Chaco Canyon. Its imposing edifice must have been a welcomed sight to early Pueblo Peoples, settlers and sojourners following lengthy travels to this special and sacred place. Fajada Butte reveals much intrigue and is a source of considerable "informed speculation." To learn more and witness this monument to the ancients, be sure to add Chaco Culture to your bucket list of destinations.

This butte fascinated the people of the canyon, so much so that they built up a ramp to get to the top of it! On top in a cave shelter, at just the right solstice hour, a shaft of sunlight pierces a carved spiral petroglyph on the wall. An earthquake moved the rocks not too long ago, so the timing of the sun dagger is a bit off, but it still goes over the spiral. As this is a very sacred and special,p,ace, it is very much off-limits to all. Don't even think about it!

There are no trails to Fajada Butte, so you can only view it from the roads. One thing that really surprised us was seeing signs for "ELK" Crossings! You're kidding right?! Nope! There they were - bedded down in the sage brush for the evening!

The story of what is at the butte (a petroglyph panel carved so that the sun shining through on significant calendar days strikes a carved spiral with a dagger of light) is fascinating. The Butte is big, solitary, and very impressive. It's also visible from many parts of the canyon. You can imagine why it was considered particularly special by the ancients, and was chosen to be marked to reveal major events of the sun's calendar. Unfortunately, the stone slabs that create the "sun dagger" were apparently being shifted simply from people's feet eroding the surface dirt around their base. So, the effect has changed, and its not longer accessible to the general public for fear of further damage. However you can learn more here: http://www.exploratorium.edu/chaco/HTML/fajada.html

Der Fajada Butte ist Teil des Chaco Culture National Historical Parks. Er liegt am Parkein- bzw. Ausgang. Es handelt sich dabei um einen 135 Meter hohen Felsen, der doch ganz beeindruckend aussieht und aufgrund seiner Form und eines Spaltes durch den die Sonne durchtritt und Petroglyphs beleuchtet von den Indianern verehrt wird. Bis 1980 war er noch zugänglich und man konnte dort die Petroglyphs (Malereien in Stein) anschauen. Heute bleibt einem leider nur noch der Blick aus der Ferne. Auch deswegen ist Anfahrt über die Schotterpiste sicherlich nicht lohnend, ausser man besucht die verschiedenen Pueblos die auch in dem Park sind und wirklich die Reise wert sind. Viel Vergnügen.