Arecibo 12.6-cm delay-Doppler measurements are used to study the topography and radar scattering properties of the Chryse region, including the Viking 1 and Mars Pathfinder lander sites and environs. The Viking 1 lander lies on a gentle (0.13¿) east facing slope at a 6.1-mbar altitude of -1.35 km. The Mars Pathfinder lander site lies slightly lower (-1.7 km) on a flat, low-relief plain. Quasi-specular roughness across Chryse is considerably higher than the Martian average and shows some strong spatial variation not apparent from older CW observations. Some of the rougher regions coincide with the distal ends of the Tiu and Ares Vallis channels, while another is located just to the northeast of the Viking 1 lander. Chryse shows asymmetric scattering (skew) similar to that seen in Mars' southern hemisphere and in recent Magellan radar observations of Venus. Comparison of 12.6-cm and 3.5-cm data indicates that Chryse's quasi-specular reflectivity is strongly wavelength dependent (being higher at the longer wavelength), suggesting a rapid density increase within the top decimeter of the regolith. Depolarized reflectivity images of the general Chryse area show modest enhancements (from decimeter-scale roughness or rocks) associated with Maja and Kasei Valles and the plateau bordering Simud Vallis. These images indicate that the rock abundance at the proposed Mars Pathfinder lander site is similar to that at the Viking lander sites.¿ 1997 American Geophysical Union