Details: Wijiji Trail

This nice, short hike visits Wijiji, a late-period Chaco great house, along with an alcove with pictographs and petroglyphs.

To Wijiji Ruin

Wijiji is one of the four backcountry trails in Chaco Culture National Historic Park (Chaco Canyon). The trail starts at a pullout along the east side of the main park road, near the campground. (See driving directions below.) Before setting out on your hike fill out a free hiking permit available at the trailhead kiosk near the pullout.

From the trailhead a boot beaten path heads southwest paralleling the Wijiji Mesa to the east. Bear left onto the Sargent Ranch Road after hiking a little over a tenth of a mile. The trail travels along the dirt road as it curves to the south and then west, entering Chaco Canyon at 0.4 miles.

The trail now heads up the northeast side of the canyon, defined by Wijiji Mesa to the left (northeast) and Chacra Mesa to the right (southwest). Be aware that you will be sharing the road with bikes. At 1.6 miles a wide trail takes off to the left (northeast) to the ruins.

Wijiji originally had about 325 rooms arranged in a very symmetrical C-shape design. The building was terraced with the northern row of rooms rising to three stories, the next row two stories and the row facing the plaza one story. There were two small kivas, one in each wing. Unlike other Great Houses in the Chaco area there were no rooms enclosing the plaza and the site lacks a trash midden. The missing trash midden and the open plaza suggest that Wijiji was never finished.

At the northeast corner of the ruins a trail leads across the mesa and then climbs a rocky slope to an alcove at the base of the cliff with petroglyphs and pictographs. Please treat all ruins and rock you encounter with respect. Never touch the rock art, take tracings or add modern additions.