Chimney Rock National Monument
At Chimney Rock National Monument, you can imagine the landscape as it was a thousand years ago with cultivated fields and settlements extending from the valley floors to the mesa tops. Chimney Rock represents one of the largest Pueblo II (900-1150 AD) communities in southwestern Colorado and is considered a Chacoan cultural “outlier.” The Chaco phenomenon was a complex system of dispersed communities bound by economic, political and religious interdependence centered in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. The area continues to hold special significance for today’s Native American peoples. More than 150 documented archaeological resources grouped into eight clusters at Chimney Rock date back to the Pueblo II period. Architectural structures include pit houses, great kivas, and great houses.
The pinnacles that give Chimney Rock its name frame multiple astronomical alignments including the northern lunar standstill, summer solstice, equinoxes, and Crab Nebula. The Ancestral Puebloans incorporated their knowledge of astronomy into the design of their community.
Chimney Rock National Monument was designated on September 21, 2012 by President Barack Obama, making it the seventh national monument managed by the USDA Forest Service.
Plan Your Visit
The Chimney Rock National Monument encompasses 4,726 acres of the San Juan National Forest between Durango and Pagosa Springs, Colorado. The Chimney Rock Interpretive Program is managed and staffed by the U.S. Forest Service and Chimney Rock Interpretive Association.
Self-guided tours are available during open hours and are included with registration. Please check in with the outdoor Forest Service Information booth to register your vehicle.
Check out Chimney Rock National Monument's hours, amenities, sites, maps and more in our Visitor Guide.
Chimney Rock began using a fee system in 2023. All vehicles and motorcycles will be subject to a activity pass fee - $20.00 / $10.00 (respectively). The activity pass fee provides 5 days of access to the Chimney Rock National Monument.
We are no longer able to accept cash for tours or passes - debit or credit cards only - however the gift shop still accepts all forms of payment.
To purchase your required activity pass you can:
- Purchase your activity pass in advance at Recreation.gov
- Download the Recreation.gov Mobile APP
- Purchase your pass in advance through the app OR
- Make your payment easier! Arrive on site and use the app to provide payment (Android or iOS) by scanning on site QR code.
- Interagency, Access, Senior, Military, and 4th grader park passes are accepted for National Monument access.
May 15th through October 15th from 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Road access to the upper mesa is closed at 3:15, daily, in order to ensure the public is off the mesa by the site closure at 4:30. Please arrive no later than 3:15pm. This is the minimum amount of time needed to visit the main site and visitor center.
Chimney Rock National Monument is day use only and is available on a first-come, first served basis. Due to parking limitations at the upper parking lot, customers may occasionally need to wait at the visitor center.
From May 15 - October 15, call the Chimney Rock National Monument Visitor Center at (970) 883-2496
From October 1 - May 14, call Pagosa Ranger District Office at (970) 264-2268
For the Reservation Call Center for Special Programs, call (877) 44-6777
Interpretive Programming 2025
Chimney Rock Interpretive Association (CRIA) promotes public education, interpretation, and stewardship of culture and history through guided tours and special events of the Chimney Rock National historic site.
Guided Great House Tour: CRIA offers a guided tour everyday that the monument is open. Check-in at the plaza kiosk is at 10:00 a.m. with the tour beginning in the upper parking lot at 10:30 a.m.
Reservations can be made through Recreation.gov or its call center (877-444-6777). Walk-ins are welcome if room allows, and tickets can be purchased at the Gift Shop. Tickets are $12 for ages 13 and up, $6 for ages 5-12, under 5 free. Bring water, hat, sunscreen, bug repellant, and good walking shoes for the rough Great House trail.
Northern Major Lunar Standstill
The Northern Major Lunar Standstill (MLS) is an astronomical event that occurs every 18.6 years. It is visible from Chimney Rock National Monument where the moon aligns between the two sandstone spires, Chimney Rock and Companion Rock. The rising is visible for a few days throughout the year over the course of three years.
Learn More
Tribal Partnerships
Since Chimney Rock was designated a National Monument by Presidential Proclamation 2012, the San Juan National Forest consults and partners with many Native American Tribes and Pueblos to manage the monument, including restoration. In August 2024, the Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps (a corps program that partners with tribal communities and land managers to accomplish projects based in historical preservation and traditional knowledge) conducted a structural stabilization project at Chimney Rock National Monument.
The Chimney Rock area holds deep spiritual significance for modern pueblo and tribal communities. Today, descendants of the Ancestral Puebloans, Navajo, Jicarilla Apache and Ute return to this important place of cultural continuity for ceremonial and traditional purposes. The area is also an important source of traditional cultural materials that are collected by tribal members for food and medicine. Chimney Rock National Monument is managed to protect and preserve access by tribal members for traditional cultural, spiritual, food and medicine gathering purposes, consistent with the purposes of the monument, to the maximum extent permitted by law.
The San Juan National Forest ensures that the hunting rights of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe within the exterior boundaries of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, including lands within the Monument, are upheld. The San Juan National Forest also ensures that the hunting and fishing rights of the 1873 Brunot Agreement are upheld on public lands under its management jurisdiction, including those lands within the Monument.
Tribes with ancestral and cultural ties to the Chimney Rock National Monument landscape:
Kewa Pueblo | Pueblo of Santa Ana |
Pueblo de Cochiti | Pueblo of Santa Clara |
Pueblo of Acoma | Pueblo of Taos |
Pueblo of Isleta | Pueblo of Tesuque |
Pueblo of Jemez | Pueblo of Zia |
Pueblo of Laguna | Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation |
Pueblo of Nambé | Ohkay Owingeh |
Pueblo of Picuris | Hopi Tribe |
Pueblo of Pojoaque | Jicarilla Apache Nation |
Pueblo of San Felipe | Navajo Nation |
Pueblo of San Ildefonso | Southern Ute Indian Tribe Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation |
Pueblo of Sandia | Ute Mountain Ute Tribe |
Chimney Rock Photos & Videos
Ancient Hertiage, Living Connections
A historical narrative produced by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the San Juan National Forest, the San Juan Mountains Association, and New Mexico Highlands University.
Monument Designation
On September 21, 2012 President Barack Obama proclaimed Chimney Rock National Monument, making it the seventh national monument managed by the USDA Forest Service.