Chaco Canyon and Two Grey Hills

March 1 to 4
After leaving Ojo Caliente fully soaked and bathed and relaxed, I headed on backroads to Chaco Canyon.  I made one last stop at Bode's in Abiquiu for gas, beer and brocolli.  Lovely half canyon half range lands for about 60 miles west.  Then another 60 miles northwest on a 4 lane highway.  The last 13 miles to Chaco were on clay dirt roads with 5 miles of moderate washboard.
All campsites are first come first serve because they are reconstructing the bathrooms (one at a time) and the drainfield.  About 10 campsites are reserved for construction.  If they encounter archeological items while working, a large crew of people will come out to continue the digging and cataloging the historical items.  Given the road, this was a tent, camper and sprinter style RV crowd.  Much like me. I gathered numerous tips for places to stay along the rest of my trip.
The next day I hiked about 7 miles through overlooks, ancient pueblos and ancient roads.  Very nice and not crowded.  To get to the mesa top there was a narrow steep defile to climb thru.  Luckily not steep enough to test my acrophobia.
I found a nice covered picnic table out in the park to spend time reading until the wind picked up and it got too chilly.  The next day I packed up and headed to Bisti de na zin and Two grey hills.  My plan was to take county roads (clay dirt) directly.  Then the rain started, whipping across the highway.  Without off road tires or 4 wheel drive I changed my  plans.  I stayed on the highway to Farmington and Ship Rock before heading south to Newcomb / Two Grey Hills.  I skipped Bisti.
I wanted to visit Two Grey Hills to see the place of origin of my favorite navajo rugs that my parents collected.  It was well worth it.  I spent 2 hours in the Toadlena Trading Post.  They had a retrospective of historical Storm Pattern rugs from 1920 to 1950.  Absolutely astounding beauty and quality.  Fine tight straight lines and intricate patterns.  Then I went to the rugs they had on sale.  I had already scoped out rugs at other trading posts and had a feel for the cost of quality.   I spent an hour and a half flipping out rugs, laying them on the floor, comparing them side by side and getting information on the weavers.  The Toadlena Trading Post owners could name the weaver just by looking at the rug.  They know them all personally.  One weaver came in while I was comparing her work to others.  Her's was too busy for me.  Finally I choose one to compensate for the ones I accidently gave to Goodwill after mom passed away.  It is about 3' by 4' and I have a postcard of the weaver holding the rug.  It was not cheap, but the one that I lusted after was 5' x 6', tapestry quality with very fine yarn and $9500.  Sigh.
Today is laundry day in Gallup, NM then follow the road from Window Rock to Crystal.  The people at Toadlena said it was the prettiest route in the country.