GILA CLIFF DWELLINGS

Moving to this part of New Mexico has put us within driving range to a lot of incredible sites. A few short hours away we have the "Cat Walks", the Gila Cliff Dwellings, Carls Bad Caverns, the "VLA" (Very Large Array) and many other national monuments and places of interest to visit.

Saturday we decided to take the boys up to visit the Cliff Dwellings located in the Gila National Wilderness. BD & I have both been up to the Cliff Dwellings in the past but the boys had never seen them and since the day was sunny and warming up....we figured it would be a perfect day trip to make. So we loaded up...making a quick stop at Wal-Mart to pick up drinks and sandwich stuff and off we went.

The Cliff Dwellings are technically only 42 miles from us but it takes around 2 1/2 hours to drive there due to winding in and out of many mountain ranges. We left home to sunny skies but the higher we climbed into the mountains the more clouds we encountered. It first begin to rain and then as we snaked our way up narrow winding roads that rain quickly turned into snow. We were concerned that maybe we'd picked to wrong day for our trip but we kept going and soon were out of the high mountains and out of the rain and snow.

We stopped for lunch beside the Gila river allowing the boys a chance to see the river flowing and for LB to partake in one of his favorite past times....throwing rocks into the river. The boys really enjoyed skipping and throwing rocks into the river and it was a nice little spot to stop and enjoy our lunch.

After having our lunch we loaded everything back up, and headed out for the Cliff Dwellings once again. It took us another 45 minutes to reach them, but the ride was nice and the rain seemed to be holding off so maybe it wouldn't be a bad trip after all. Let me stop here and insert a little bit of history, for those of you who may not know, concerning the Cliff Dwellings.

Almost 700 years ago, the Mogollon (pronounced Muggy-own) Indians migrated from other parts of New Mexico & Mexico through the Gila Wilderness. They came across natural caves high in the cliffs and decided to build their homes inside these caves. For some unknown reason the Mogollon Indians only inhabited these dwellings for one generation before moving on to other parts. Cattlemen and archaeologists discovered these dwellings in the late 1800's, early 1900's and they have been protected since 1907 for future generations to visit and enjoy.

We arrived at the "starting" point of our trek, a one mile loop with a "steep" section climbing up 180 feet to the dwellings, and off we go. We hike at a good pace and seem to quickly reach the "steep" part. I'll admit I had to stop a couple of times to catch my breath while my lil slave driver is yelling "come on mommy". We make it to the top of the 180 foot climb and there are the dwellings. BB is a little in awe of them....fascinated that people actually lived "way up here".

We wound our way through the caves looking at the different areas and answering what seemed like a million questions from BB and LB. LB seemed the most interested in climbing on everything so it was quit the adventure to keep up with him and keep him in one piece.

I think BB was very fascinated and enjoyed learning the different things about the Mogollon Indians who built these dwellings and once inhabited them, although getting him to admit to that fact would be an undertaking even I'm not up for. The Cliff Dwellings are very interesting and although this was my second time visiting them...I too, found the whole concept of people building their homes in caves high up on cliffs very intriguing.

After wandering around the Cliff Dwellings for a while, we decided to head back down, hopefully reaching the bottom before the rain decided to start. I'll admit the hike down was a lot more enjoyable than the one up - it's ALL down hill!!! The rain did hold off for us to reach the bottom and for that I was VERY thankful. After snagging drinks and snacks from the cooler we headed back home.

It didn't take long before LB's eyes began to close and his head began to bob and he was fast asleep. I soon followed him into the dream world with BB bringing up the rear, leaving BD with lots of peace and quiet for the drive back. We all had a wonderful time. We also found several ideal spots to go camping this summer....so you'll probably be seeing that here on my blog as the weather starts to warm up and we take more day trips and camping trips.

*a special "thank you" to BB for taking most of the pictures