17-03-2025
Seeing the light: A Chaco Canyon adventure at the spring equinox 2025
Mar. 17—Despite the turmoil in the federal government, the sun will rise at Chaco Culture National Historical Park this year.
And if this season is clouded by lack of funding and the park is shuttered or spring winds blow in cloud-cover, plan for the next major sunrise event during the summer solstice in June. Unique astronomical events occur each season.
Any vehicle can safely drive the road at this time, just take it slow, said Nathan Hatfield, who is in charge of interpretive programs for Chaco and Aztec Ruins National Monument.
A sunrise program is scheduled at Casa Rinconada on Thursday, March 20, dependent on weather and budget constraints, according to an email from Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The gates to the historic loop open at 6:30 a.m. Sunrise will be at 7:01 a.m., according to The Old Farmers' Almanac.
The vernal equinox falls on either March 20 or March 21 each year, according to the Almanac. In 2025, it will happen on a Thursday across the Northern Hemisphere. Equinoxes and solstices happen simultaneously around the world. Even with different time zones, the astronomical events are based on the Earth's orbit around the sun and its axis tilt.
An interpretive ranger plans to mark the event and teach about it during a ranger-led program at Casa Rinconada, the largest great kiva in Chaco Canyon. It is known for its solstice and equinox alignments. The park's annual sunrise programs have been going on there for more than two decades.
Were the structures built at Chaco to mark lunar and solar events, or just happenstance?
"I think it was intentional and most modern Indigenous people would agree," said Hatfield. "And we don't see the alignment of structures only at Chaco."
Other sites in the southwest United States exhibit many of the same characteristics in regard to the sun, moon and stars including at Salmon Ruins in the Four Corners and Aztec Ruins nearby, he said.
"The study of the astronomical practices, celestial lore, mythologies, religions and world-views of all ancient cultures we call archaeoastronomy," according to the Center for Archaeoastronomy at the University of Maryland. "We like to describe archaeoastronomy, in essence, as the anthropology of astronomy, to distinguish it from the history of astronomy."
Why does it work?
"The Chacoans aligned some of their structures due east and west since, on the vernal equinox, the sun will rise and set along this azimuth," according to an email from Kevin McKeown, who writes the daily Sky Watch column on the Albuquerque Journal weather page. You can find more information in Anna Sofer's work called the Solstice Project, McKeown said.
The equinox is also the first day of spring.
Manmade or "alien-on-earth" structures that are especially celebrated to view the change of seasons include Stonehenge in England and Machu Picchu in Peru.
Macho Picchu, a tourist hot-spot and bucket-list archaeological site, sits at about 8,000 feet in elevation — about 700 feet higher than Los Alamos, atop a mountain.
Other celebrated sunrise viewing spots include Chichén Itzá in Mexico, and the Great Sphinx and Pyramids in Giza, Egypt.
Chaco, much closer, though down a bumpy but accessible gravel road through the Navajo Nation, provides a once-in-a-lifetime experience that any intrepid traveler can reach in less than five hours from Albuquerque. Be sure to stop at one of the Sinclair Dino Mart gas stations and convenience stores along U.S. 550 to stock up on provisions including fuel before making the turn from pavement.
No restaurants, gas stations or hotels beckon after you leave the pavement. Reservations must be made on for the small Gallo campground, which is a great place to see the stars because Chaco is a Dark Sky Park location.
"Keep your fingers crossed for clear skies," Hatfield said.
