Chaco Canyon Glamping – New Moon and Equinox Expeditions
Glamping with Heritage Inspirations in Chaco Canyon,
will connect your body to your soul. The open blue skies with billowing clouds are as mesmerizing as watching the waves of the sea collide with the shore. Feeling the sandstone cool your skin and warm your soul is invigorating. Connecting with an ancient civilization whose descendants are today, like centuries before, a thriving community rich in tradition, spirituality and social organization. As we dive deep into the corridors and corner windows that invite the sun into these ancient buildings, we become immersed in the elements created by this ancient, diverse civilization which thrived from 850 to 1250 AD.
Go luxuriously wild in the high desert of New Mexico where comfort and adventure meet. Our two day tour is unlike any other. We connect culture, history, spirituality, and the surrounding desert with the flavors of The Land of Enchantment.
Our glamping experiences are a promise to connect you to the earth. Connect you to the past and draw from this experience to open your heart to what may come along in your path in life. Our glamping tribe roves with you, deep into the heart of Chaco Canyon, so that you are completely immersed in the sky, water, fire and earth. Our team travels ahead of you to set up the camp for each tour with deluxe amenities, including a raised bed-frame, memory foam mattress, bedside table, butterfly canvas chairs, plush rugs and southwest textiles. All you have to do is arrive and unplug. Our Heritage Inspirations Tribe will ensure that you can leave the busy day to day behind you as you become immersed in the story of the most resilient culture of New Mexico.
We have two distinct options with our Chaco Canyon Glamping Tours which are designed to highlight some of the most breathtaking phenomena of Chaco Canyon: New Moon Tours and our Equinox Tours. Both tours start and end at our travel hub inside Hotel Chaco in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Both tours equally dive deep into the heart of these ancient historical sites. Our guides will bring this UNESCO World Heritage Site to life with the stories of this ancient civilization, its history and traditions. You can read the complete daytime itinerary here. The nighttime and early morning programs are where these two options differ.
equinox TOURS
Our Glamping Equinox Tours take place on the Spring and Fall Equinox, in March and September every year and are designed to highlight the Equinox markers in Chaco Canyon which demonstrate that the people of Chaco incorporated celestial movements into a variety of their architecture, art and culture. You’ll witness these alignments first hand and see how they indicate the people possessed a well-developed knowledge of astronomy and its relationship to the seasons.
Chacoans had such advanced astronomical knowledge and they used it to carefully align their great houses with the sun, presumably to witness indications of important calendar dates. When you experience the Equinox Glamping Tour, we’ll rise before sunrise and journey to Casa Rinconada, the largest known Kiva in Chaco Canyon to observe the light stream through two perfectly aligned east/west doors. We join the program hosted by the National Park Service that allows a limited number of visitors to experience this magic in Casa Rinconada. This phenomenon of the sunlight piercing through the center of these two doorways only happens two times per year, at sunrise on the Equinox. This alignment demonstrates how the carefully designed construction and the planned interplay of light and shadow functioned as a calendrical marker for the Chacoan people. It is like witnessing a piece of ancient wisdom in the present day. This phenomena was also the inspiration for our new logo and branding, as the image reflects the sun ray shining through the kiva that our amazing photographer Amanda captured during one of our glamping expeditions.
new moon TOURS
The New Moon tours, in April and Mary, are designed to feature the awe inspiring night sky, as Chaco Canyon has the distinction of being one of the few designated International Dark Sky Parks. Dark Sky areas are rapidly declining due to the prevalence of artificial outdoor light in our modern world. You will be spellbound by the resplendent array of stars and the Milky Way glowing overhead, while pondering the ancestral Puebloan peoples’ use of ancient astronomy to build their vast infrastructure and civilization. Then we rise early to hike among the stars to a point overlooking Fajada Butte. The hike winds above the canyon floor providing spectacular views back at our camp as we wander along the canyon trail to witness the sun rise upon the ancient sandstone. The new moon is the most magical time to witness the Dark Sky because without the light of the moon, the stars have the chance to sparkle and shine transporting you to a dreamlike state or another world.
Which tour is right for you? Ask us to get more information. Don’t hesitate as tours fill up quickly and these adventures are sure to sell out.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CHACO CANYON glamping experience »
I’m interested in the Moon tours
Fantastic Carol! Our New Moon Tours Glamping in Chaco are in April and May. We have a few spots left, here is the tour page to explore: https://heritageinspirations.com/chaco-tours/chaco-canyon-glamping-overnight/
You can also email us at info@heritageinspirations.com if you have further questions. We have limited availability so please contact us soon. Thanks so much for reaching out!