Casa Chiquita Bike Trail
Casa Chiquita at sunset Trailhead: Beyond Pueblo del Arroyo parking area Distance: 2 miles roundtrip
Time: 1 hour Note: You may only ride a bike as far as Casa Chiquita. From there, you must hike to Penasco Blanco. Permit required: Obtain a free permit at the Visitor Center, from a campground host, or self register at trailhead. Casa Chiquita is a compact great house dating to the AD 1060s--possibly earlier--and thought to have been built in one construction episode. this site features a nearly square block of rooms surrounding an elevated kiva. The entire site was built into and on top of a natural hillside. The great house shares features in common with nearby Kin Kletso. Both sites are built in the McElmo style. This later style of construction uses the Chacoan great house plan with a different type of masonry--pecked, loaf-shaped blocks of tan sandstone. Both sites also feature a row of tiny, one-storey rooms along the front of the building 
Map of Bike trail to Casa Chiquita
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Did You Know?
Richard Wetherill came to Chaco Canyon in 1896 and worked with the American Museum of Natural History. He operated a ranch and trading post there until his death in 1910. To keep warm during the frigid Chaco winters, Richard burned low-grade coal from a mine he constructed.