Gila Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico

This is about as remote as a place can get.  It is a five hour drive from my house to Silver City, New Mexico. From Silver City it is about 45 miles through the national forest on a paved road. It takes over two hours to drive 45 miles due to the terrain. You really have to want to be there...it's not something that you pick up along the way to somewhere else.

Sierra Ladrones

Cool rest area on I-25

The first part...on the interstate (I-25) is no problem. Going west on highway 152 starts to be a little challenging. This is mountain driving through the Black Range known also as the Mimbres Mountains and out the other side. Emory Pass is the high point at 8,228 ft. The highway goes through two former ghost towns, now mostly reoccupied:  Hillsboro and Kingston.

This area has a history of massive forest fires and the evidence is clearly visible as you drive the highway. Much of this is dry mountain country but there plenty of pine forests higher up.

 The highway goes through a narrow canyon (near Lower Gallinas) and follows the Mibres River toward San Lorenzo. There is a huge open pit copper mine between San Lorenzo and Silver City.

In Silver City we stayed at the Palace Hotel, built in 1882. It was an interesting experience that I won't go into here. We ate at Toad Creek Brewery, across the street from the hotel. They had a guy playing guitar and it was pretty good food.

The road to Gila Cliff Dwellings climbs out of Silver City into the Pinas Altas mountains. I was watching the road so I didn't get to enjoy the scenery much. This is a narrow blacktop road without a center line that has no more than maybe 200-300 feet of straight or flat pavement at any one time...and that is being generous.  I think our top speed was under 30 mph and most often closer to 20 mph for the entire 45 mile stretch.  We met a couple RVs on this stretch and there were deer on the road in a couple places.

This is the Gila Wilderness area and there are a lot of trails going into the back country....well, further back...way back.  Eventually the road meets highway 35 coming north from San Lorenzo and it improves a little. It descends into the Gila River valley and passes a few campgrounds and back country cabin resorts. The river looks like it would be a nice trout stream but I didn't have my gear with me.

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument is the end of the road. It is not a huge area in it's own right but is surrounded by miles of wilderness. There are over 100 archeological sites identified on just over 500 acres of land in the area. The cliff dwellings are accessed on foot along a one mile loop trail.

The structures, about 44 rooms, were built by the Mogollon people sometime between 1200 and 1300. They farmed on top of the mesa and apparently occupied the caves for a fairly short time before moving on. The Mogollon people were just the last of a long line of cave residents going back 10,000 years.

There are seven caves or rock shelters...one with multiple entrances. The largest is accessible by a stairway and a ladder which allows you to walk among the various rooms. There were two Park Rangers on duty at the caves to provide tours and answer questions.

The structures were somewhat intact with their original roofs in place up until the 1880s when the roofs were destroyed by a fire. Archaeological records and artifacts from earlier digs were poorly catalogued. Some of the artifacts were taken into private collections in the early days before the site was protected.