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Chimney Rock National Monument/Colorado

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Welcome To Chimney Rock!
CRIA Artwork Celebrate Chimney Rock National Monument - Support the Chimney Rock Interpretive Program at the June 14 benefit, 6:00-10:00 pm at the PLPOA Clubhouse at 230 Port Ave, Pagosa Springs, CO. Music throughout the evening, dinner and dancing to the San Juan Mountain Boys, cash bar, door prizes, silent auction, brown bag drawing. $35.00 per person, reservations required. Tickets available at: Higher Grounds Coffee Co., Boulder Coffee Cafe, Humane Society Thrift Store, call the CRIA Office at 970-731-7133, or purchase online through PayPal.

Come visit us in beautiful Southwest Colorado and find...

  • One of America's newest National Monuments - a place of mystery, a sacred place, a celestial observatory and seasonal calendar for the Ancestral Puebloans over 1,000 years ago. Chimney Rock is a place of unparalleled natural beauty sitting on a high mesa at the southern edge of the San Juan Mountains and on the National Register of Historic Places since 1970.

  • Explore Chimney Rock from the welcoming Visitor Center with daily tours -

    Expect road surfacing delays between Durango and Chimney Rock through May 30th.

    • Great House
  • Chimney Rock lies within the San Juan National Forest - between Durango and Pagosa Springs in southwestern Colorado. The Monument encompasses 4,726 acres, preserving hundreds of prehistoric sites that dot the landscape around the twin spires known as Chimney Rock and Companion Rock.

  • Home to the ancestors of the modern Pueblo Indians - with spiritual significance to many tribes, the Ancestral Puebloans built more than 200 homes and ceremonial buildings high above the valley floor, probably to be near the twin rock pinnacles. Some ancient structures have been excavated and stabilized for viewing including: a Great Kiva, a Pit House, a Multi-Family Dwelling, and a Chacoan style Great House Pueblo. Many unexcavated structures stimulate the imagination.

  • Northeastern-most Chacoan outlier - one of the highest elevation Ancestral Puebloan sites. The mountain peaks to the north and east made it an ideal spot for tracking the movement of the sun and moon. The people of Chimney Rock may have used signal towers at various locations to transmit calendrical information to Chaco Canyon.

  • Chimney Rock Interpretive Association - a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, conducts daily tours and operates the Visitor Center during the season from May 15 through September 30. Their mission, in partnership with the San Juan National Forest, is to provide the site's care, protection, and preservation, as well as public interpretation and education, and manage the interpretive program at the Monument under a special use permit with the Pagosa Ranger District, USDA Forest Service.
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