Gila Cliff Dwellings

Thursday, October 11, 2012

We got up early and headed up another windy, curvaceous road toward the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.  Another very interesting place to visit.  So far it seems you simply cannot go wrong visiting anything run by the National Park Service.  The dwellings are caves in a valley where the Mogollan people lived for only a generation about 1260 AD.  There were about 40-60 people who lived here. 

Unfortunately the caves had been raided before the park service took control so very little pottery or artifacts remained but the dwellings themselves are quite remarkable. You can still see the blackened roofs of the dwellings from years of having fire in them.s You have to walk in and do some climbing to best see the caves
. We spoke to the rangers who offered some hiking recommendations, so after the caves, we headed off on a hike.  The first couple of miles were mostly high desert with some ponderosa pines but then we got to this slot canyon and walked through it and then came to a beautiful river with amazing rock formations.  All in all a great day of adventure.  We drove into Silver City and went to Jack’s shop and then out to dinner.  Went back to the house and watched the VP debate.  None of us dared talk about our political persuasion.  Luckily Jack stayed back in the bedroom as we all know it is hard for him to not let everyone know what he is thinking even if he never says a civil word!