While in southwest Colorado we wanted to visit Chimney Rock, which is a very interesting natural rock formation. What made it even more interesting is that the ancient puebloans built structures near the rock formations, high on the top of the very steep mountain.

There are actually 2 rocks, chimney rock and companion rock. The ancient puebloans built a great house and kiva, like so many other of their structures, with the north wall aligning along the sunrise at summer solstice. Here at Chimney Rock there’s an added feature that if you look along the northern wall at summer solstice the sun rises not only along the northern wall, but also between the two rock formations. It is thought that this is why they built in such an unlikely place with no water and such a steep climb up to the structures. There are other places where ancient puebloans built structures in what would seem difficult spots but apparently had significance to them. There are smaller structures about halfway up the mountain and it’s thought that most of the people in this area lived there, with the great house and kiva at the summit reserved for the upper class – those who knew how to read the sun, moon and stars and direct the timing of various activities such as planting, hunts, etc.

Here are some pictures we took: